Wild Horses
by gillyflower34
Summary: Story picks up in season 3 after the group escapes Woodbury. Instead of returning to the prison together Daryl and Merle get separated when the bridge they are on collapses. Merle gets picked up by another group. Rated M for sexual content. Slow burn.
1. Chapter 1

**THIS STORY PICKS UP IN SEASON 3 AFTER THE ESCAPE FROM WOODBURY. INSTEAD OF GOING BACK TO THE PRISON, MERLE AND DARYL HAVE AN ACCIDENT. WHILE THIS ISN'T REALLY A CROSSOVER I WILL SAY AYLA FROM THE EARTHS CHILDREN BOOK SERIES HAS HEAVILY INFLUENCED MY OC, EXCEPT I WANTED TO MAKE HER MORE MODERN. THE DIXONS HAVE ALWAYS REMINDED ME OF THE SET OF BROTHERS FROM THOSE BOOKS AND SOME SCENES IN THIS STORY WERE INSPIRED BY SCENES FROM THE BOOKS VALLEY OF THE HORSES AND THE MAMMOTH HUNTERS.**

Merle

What a piece of shit. Eight months he had been looking for his brother and now that he found him, he wants to act like his own damn family is nothing but an inconvenience. Likes his new friends better than his own brother. He can piss and pout like a little pussy all day we are not going back there.

Merle could hear a baby screaming somewhere. The last thing they needed was a baby to deal with. Daryl pushed ahead moving towards the noise. If they could hear the noise, so could every biter for miles around. Maybe they would catch a break, and whatever unlucky bastards that were with the baby would already be dead by the time they got there and they could take what they wanted and leave. People who kept a baby alive this long were pretty sure to have food.

As the brothers got closer to the bridge the noise got louder and the people making it became visible. They looked like a bunch of fucking idiots. Two men were up on top of a truck, clearly out of bullets. A woman had the baby inside another car screaming like crazy even though there was only a few biters around. How people this stupid made it this long was always a mystery to Merle. If the governor was here they might have helped these people. The governor liked taking in small family groups. Keep the women and kids inside the gates and there was less of a chance the men would take off. People with loved ones were easy to control. But the governor wasn't here. And there was no going back to Woodbury, not that he wanted to anyway. Better just to let the biters have these people now.

Of course Daryl didn't feel that way. He bolted in and began killing biters. Merle stayed close to make sure his brother was alright but he had no interest in helping. Didn't take long before the dead were actually dead. The men in the truck came down and started jabbering away in some other language. Great. Saved them and now the assholes didnt even speak English. Assholes were probably just pretending not to understand so they didn't have to pay for the help they just got. Well they were going to pay.

Merle flung the car door open and began poking through the supplies. The woman and baby were still in the front seat. She was acting like he was some kind of crazy rapist instead of the brother of the guy who just saved her miserable life. People can't live long without water. There had to be a few bottles of water in there somewhere and maybe some canned food too. He could hear the two men babbling like idiots behind the car. There was no reason to worry about them, since if they had any bullets left they would have used them on the dead. Then Daryl hit him on the shoulder.

Back before the turn, Merle had robbed plenty of people. Hell, he had been planning to rob the Atlanta camp with Daryl's help. Daryl was ordering him out of the car like he had never stole a thing in his life. These taco vendors owed them. Its not like Merle was going to take everything and kill them, though the thought had briefly crossed his mind. Daryl had spent way too much time hanging around with that dick cop. Then the unthinkable happened. Daryl lifted his crossbow and aimed it at his own brother. Since he was just a little kid, Merle had taught Daryl never to aim a weapon at someone unless he intended to shoot them. Now Merle was really pissed off. He watched the other men jump into the car with the woman and take off. The brothers stood facing each other on the bridge. They couldn't see it, but the looks of anger on their faces were nearly identical.

Staring at his brother, Merle suddenly heard a strange rumbling noise. Maybe he didn't hear it exactly, but kind of felt it and heard it at the same time. The ground began to shift beneath him and he struggled to keep his footing. The last thing he felt was the sensation of falling and then the pain. The pain was hot and scorching up his leg. Brief thoughts of hell and that he may be getting what he deserved were jumbled up with thoughts of concern for his brother. Then there was only black.


	2. Chapter 2

Iva and Toby

Hunting was easy now. Toby's way of finding the deer was technically cheating but it still put dinner on the table. At several carefully chosen spots, Toby hung salt licks and left old fruit out. He marked the way back with spray paint trails. Now he and Iva just switched which color path they followed and within an hour they usually had a deer. Iva was a killer shot with her bow and Toby was getting better. He was still more comfortable with his slingshot, but you can't kill a deer with a tiny rock. Rabbits, squirrels and ducks were the best to go for, and a few times he had taken a kwade down.

Kwade was what Iva called them. Toby guessed it meant devil or evil in whatever language it was that Iva talked in. What it actually was, was a regional version of Dutch, but to Toby it just sounded like something that was definitely not english and probably not spanish either. Lucky for them both, she understood a bit more english than she could speak, and they had been slowly figuring out how to understand each other.

The horse tossed its head around, shooing some flies away. Spring in Georgia was better than summer, but it was still damn hot. Toby used the hem of his shirt to wipe the sweat off his forehead and swatted at another fly. The worst part of hunting was having to let Iva get out of sight. His job was to stay with the wagon and protect the horse. Shifting his weight from one foot to the another, Toby waited for the whistle that not only meant fresh venison, but meant that his only friend in the world was alive and well.

The sun was really beating down today, and it wasn't even midday yet. Iva made a mental note to give the animals some extra water when they got back. Sweat trickled down her neck and between her breasts but she didnt move to wipe it. Her focus was on the family of deer only a few yards away. She had rubbed some horse dung on herself before they left so she knew the deer could not smell her. Toby always made the funniest faces when she used the dung, which made her laugh and reminded her of her younger brother, the one who had always hated being dirty. A young buck was getting closer and closer to her, she would take him if push came to shove but she wanted his mother.. Unaware of how close he had just come to death, the young one wandered back towards his dam. When he circled around her to get another taste of the salt lick, Iva knew she had the best shot she was going to get.

Birds scattered, deer fled, and when the leaves settled, Iva had her deer. She whistled for Toby, then pulled out her knife and kneeled down to slit the throat of the large deer before gutting it out. Toby came quickly from his hiding place, leading the horse by the reins and being careful not to get the wagon hung up on anything. Using some water they brought with them, Iva washed out the intestines and put them in a bag with some more water to keep them from drying out. The first time Toby had seen her do that, he had thought she was nuts. Now he smiled because he knew that meant sausage. The deer was heavy but between the two of them, they muscled it into the back of the wagon. For what Toby considered to be a skinny girl, Iva was strong. All her years of farmwork had made her much more muscular than the city girls Toby had grown up with.

"Now you can wash off your stinky poo", Toby said laughing and miming someone taking a shower and then holding his nose.

Iva laughed and replied, "maybe no wash... sleep in Toby bed tonight."

"Oh hell no you aint."

"Horse like better if smell like horse."

"Horse likes me just fine."

Both of them began laughing. Iva felt so good when she laughed. She knew enough that even after the Kwade came, she had always had enough to eat. But surviving and living were too different things. She hadn't laughed until Toby came. He was her friend, and the life she had before the turn had taught her that real friends are hard to come by.

Iva guided the horse with Toby beside her. They both kept and eye out for kwade and Toby had his bow and slingshot ready just in case. The road wasn't far now and then it was only about 20 minutes back to the camp. Suddenly Iva steered the horse off in the other direction. Toby looked at her quizzically and she put her hand to her ear, indicating she heard something. Toby listened hard, and now he heard it too. The noise was hard to recognize at first since it been so long since he had heard it, but it was unmistakably the sound of a baby crying.

"People!", Iva said in excitement. Toby was not as excited but he didnt know how to make her understand that not all people were good. This was true in the old world, but even more true now. The people that Toby had the misfortune to meet before Iva found him had been of the worst kind imaginable. They moved as quickly as was safe, but soon the sound stopped and they heard the sound of moving cars. Iva looked disappointed, while Toby looked relieved. He would do anything to protect Iva, who he loved more than anything in the world, but he was just a kid. There wouldn't be much he could do against a group of armed men, and his life before the turn had taught him what men do.

"They must be gone. Lets go home.", Toby said in as firm a tone as he could muster. But Iva kept moving towards where they heard the noise. They suddenly the earth started moving under them. The horse bucked and began to panick. Iva was down in a flash holding its reins and calming it. The horse had been hers since it was a colt and though it didnt trust the feeling of the ground moving, it trusted the woman without hesitation. Once she had the horse under control, Iva turned to Toby. He looked like he had just seen a ghost, and was about ready to cry and barf at the same time. Iva wished she knew the english words to make him feel better. But since she didnt, she climbed back up in the cart and hugged him tight. He felt thin in her arms, but not nearly as thin as when she found him all those months ago. Toby was so scared he was even shaking a little and he hugged her back fiercely. Then they both looked up as they heard another sound that was unfamiliar for that moment. The sound of a man in terrible pain.

"Maybe its a kwade?", Toby said in a shaky voice that sounded much younger than his 12 years.

"Kwade no scream.", Iva said, "man needs help." Before he could try and stop her Iva was out of the cart and heading towards the bridge.


	3. Chapter 3

Daryl

Daryl's first thought when he woke up was that he must have the worst hangover ever. He was covered in sweat and his head was pounding. The temples were the worst, it felt like someone was beating his head with a hammer from the inside out. He could feel the sun beating down on the backs of his eyelids, and gingerly he opened one eye. The sun must be extra bright today, he thought with a smile. This sun always seemed brighter than usual when you had been up all night drinking.

His forehead felt wet and he was hoping it wasn't covered in vomit. You know you've had to much when you start puma puking in your sleep and it doesn't even wake you up. His brother had been famous for that. Well, throwing up was better than pissing yourself so at least he had that going for him. Merle had that one girlfriend, if you could even call her a girlfriend, that used to piss her pants when she got drunk. For the life of him Daryl couldn't remember her name, but after he got done fucking her, his brother would drag her drunk ass into the bathroom and put her in the bathtub so she wouldn't piss his bed. In Daryl's opinion, it might have been better just to not give her so much to drink in the first place, but he kept his opinions to himself especially when they concerned his brother's love life.

The side of his head that felt wet was also pounding something awful. He took his hand and wiped at the liquid cautiously. When he brought his hand around in front of his face, he was shocked for a moment to see his fingers were covered in blood. Suddenly everything came back to him in a strange swirl of disturbing images. The end of the world, losing Carol and finding her again, looking for Sophia, the farm, finding his brothers hand on the roof, the funny little swish motion Beth's ponytail made when she walked through the halls of the prison, the governor, Andrea, fighting his brother while crazy people screamed for blood... He held his hands to his head to try and stop the memories from coming but deep down he knew this nightmare would never end.

Survival instincts kicked in, the way they always did for Daryl and he sat up to take stock of his surroundings. Parts of the bridge had collapsed. There was blood on his head, but not much on the ground or on his clothes so he probably wasn't hurt too bad. He had gotten lucky. To the south of him, a large portion of the bridge had fallen away, so the walkers trying to get at him from the side just walked right off the edge and fell into the creek below. His other side was blocked by the abandoned cars.

What had happened and what was he doing here? Daryl rubbed his head trying to remember. There had been the fight at woodbury and they had all gotten out. And then Merle... Oh shit Merle. Where the hell was his brother? Using the bumper of a truck, Daryl pulled himself up and looked down into the creek. There was nothing down there but a few geeks milling around moaning. Over by a large chunk of concrete there was a pool of fresh blood. His stomach was churning at the sick thought that maybe his brother wasn't down there because the geeks already ate him. The spot of blood wasn't big enough for that, Daryl told himself. He loaded his crossbow and got his knife in hand. His head was still spinning so he took a deep breath to steady himself before he climbed up onto the truck.

A few walkers were hanging around, probably drawn to the smell of blood, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. Using his bow and knife, Daryl took them out and then started down the grassy incline on the side of the bridge leading down to the water. There were four more of the nasty stinking fuckers down there and he took them out as well. Next he hopped over large chunk of what used to be the bridge and went to look at the blood he had seen from up above. He was relieved to see he had been right, there would have been much more blood if the dead had gotten to his brother. Next to the spot were drag marks and a few scraps of fabric laying next to some pieces of broken sticks. Daryl followed the drag marks easily, he was lucky it hadn't started raining. There were two sets of footprints, both smaller than his. One set was deep and had obviously been made by whoever had been dragging his brother. The other prints were harder to follow and moved in haphazard way following behind the first set.

The next thing Daryl was keeping an eye out for were car tracks, but that's not what he found. Where the drag marks stopped, there were two deep track marks, much to thin and deep to be car tires. In front of those he found what looked like horse tracks. Someone loaded his brother up and took him away with a horse and cart. He was relieved that if they went through the trouble to take Merle with them, he probably wasn't dead. And since they hadn't seen the lunatic with any horses, the governor wasn't the one who took him. Daryl followed the tracks, they seemed deep enough that it made him wonder if there wasn't something heavier than his brother in the back of the cart.

The trail led out to a paved road. From there, the wheels let tracks of mud for a few yards but not very far. Daryl could walk this road all day, but he would have no idea where the people had turned off or how far they had gone. It was getting late in the afternoon, and he had no food or water, thanks to Merle, he thought bitterly. Daryl turned away from the tracks and headed back in the direction of the prison. His friends there needed him more than his brother did anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

The man

Iva stood over the man with one of her feet in the water. He was unconscious and had a nasty cut on his head, but what worried her most was his left leg. It was bent at a terrible angle about halfway between his knee and ankle. There was a metal sleeve over his right arm up to the elbow. She thought it might be something he was using to fight the kwade, but it could just as well be some sort of fashion thing. English people were strange like that.

The best chance to set the mans leg correctly was to do it now, while it was still bleeding. A lame leg was bad enough before the turn, then it would have meant you could now longer work your farm. Now it meant you would likely die. Sometimes the best cleanse for a wound was just the persons own blood to be allowed to flow out of the wound. Iva motioned for Toby to come closer. The boy was as pale as someone with his dark of a complexion could be. He was scared and looking at the mans leg was making him sick. He knew Iva needed his help so he took another hesitant step closer and kneeled down next to the man. With her limited english, Iva couldn't explain what she wanted Toby to do so she took him by the hand and positioned him where she needed him. He ended up sitting practically on top of the man, holding onto the thigh of the the injured leg.

This would go best if it could be done while the man was still unconscious. Iva looked Toby in his face and said firmly,

" No let go."

He nodded and steeled himself for what was about to be done. When Iva grabbed for the man's ankle, Toby shut his eyes and held on for dear life. The sound he heard was disgusting, a scraping combined with a horrible slow creaking and then a pop. When Toby dared to open his eyes, the man's leg was straight again. Iva was smiling. Both bones had been broken, but at least the breaks had been clean.

Toby tore his shirt into long strips while Iva broke some sturdy sticks into shorter pieces. This wasn't going to be the best cast ever made, but it would hold until they got back to the cabin. Just then they heard the horse start to neigh and whinny, and Toby ran back to the wagon to stab the dead one that was grabbing at her. He walked back to see Iva had the man under the armpits and was dragging him to the wagon. He got around behind and held up the injured leg to keep it from dragging on the groud.

Between the two of them they got the man into the wagon without further incident. Iva pointed up front, motioning for Toby to drive so she could stay in the back with the man. Guiding them home was something Toby was more than happy to do. He cracked the leather of the leads and did his best to imitate the clicking noises Iva made to get the horse to go. The horse never needed much encouagment to head home and so they headed off at a brisk pace.

Iva had cleaned and rewrapped the man's leg, this time with sturdy boards that Toby had rubbed with some sand and a rock to make smooth. What remained of the man's clothes were in a dirty pile on the floor. She cleaned out all his out scratches and cuts and wrapped the cut on his head. There was a tea she could make him for the swelling and pain when he woke up, but she had done all she could for now. Iva gestured for Toby to watch her patient and then headed out to get herself cleaned up. She still reeked of dung from hunting the deer earlier, and she was also covered in dirt, mud and blood. The was a rain barrel and a strainer they used as a sort of makeshift shower. Iva would have preferred a swim in the creek but she didnt want to leave Toby alone too long in case the man woke up.

Toby was fidgeting in a chair a few feet from the bed. Bringing the man here had been exciting but now sitting and watching him sleep was getting boring. He was relieved when Iva came back in a few minutes later, wearing the big button down shirt she usually slept in. She had tossed her dirty things in the basket by the door, and now she walked over to glance at the man. She knew some english men shaved their faces, she had seen them when she went to the market with her father to sell vegetables. But a grown man without a beard just looked strange to her. When he had pulled the metal sleeve off his arm, she had been startled to see he was missing a hand. The stump hadn't healed well and the flesh there looked raw and angry. A little coconut oil would fix that right up, she thought with a soft smile. Growing up her mother had fixed just about every ailment they ever had with coconut oil. Iva loved her memories of her mother, who had always been kind and gentle to everyone and had always smelled of fresh bread. .

The squealing of the tea kettle from outside brought Iva out of her head and she walked quickly out to get the hot water she would need to make medicine for the man to take when he woke up. Toby watched her as she got several different jars out of the cuoboard, adding a pinch front each into a mug and pouring the steaming water over top. She set the mug on the table to cool when she noticed the bandage she had put on the mans head was coming off. Carefully as to not disturb his sleep, Iva sat on the bed and leaned over the man to fix her handiwork.

The bandage was held on with some clean gauze she had wrapped around the man's head. She lifted his head gently and slipped the cotton strip down a little further in the back. That ought to hold, she thought. Suddenly all she could see was black spots swimming in front of her eyes. Her throat was on fire and her head felt like it was about to be twisted off her neck. She grabbed blindly and caught hold of the man's arm. His eyes were open, his face twisted into a terrible mask of rage and terror. Toby was off his feet as quick as a rabbit and was slapping at the man and trying to pry his one good hand off the neck of the only friend he had.

"Let her go! Let her go!", he screamed, " you' her! She can't fucking breathe!"

Iva was getting redder by the second. As suddenly as he had struck out at her, the man let go and fell back on the bed. Toby grabbed for her and snatched her away towards the table. She sat heavily in a chair and began gasping a sputtering, trying to catch her breath. Toby ran the few steps into the kitchen area and poured her a glass of water, then he grabbed the largest knife he could find and rushed back. He handed Iva the water and stood protectively in front of her holding the knife.


	5. Chapter 5

Merle

When he woke, Merle could feel someone close to him. His first thoughts were of walkers and the governor and he struck out to protect himself. In his mind, he would kill whoever was keeping him prisoner for the governor and then escape. His head was spinning and all he could see was red. He suddenly found himself able to focus and realized it was not the governor or one of his soldiers he had hold of, but a young woman he had never seen before. There was a boy screaming at him to let go and a dog barking loudly outside. Merle let go of her and fell back, shaking his head trying to remember where he was and how he got there.

This certainly wasn't woodbury. It looked like a one room cabin. And there were no woodbury soldiers around, in fact there was no one around except a couple kids. Well, one kid and a young woman. He felt sore all over and his arm piece and clothing were gone. His head hurt, but what concerned him the most was the deep throbbing pain in his left leg. The boy looked to be around twelve years old. He was dark skinned and had a matted head of tight spongy curls that were sticking out in every direction. The look in his eyes was scared but Merle could tell he was determined about protecting the girl. The knife in his hand was shaking slightly but he had a firm grip on it.

Having caught her breath, the girl stood and put a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder. He turned towards her looking uncertain, as she moved her hand down his arm and placed it on the hand holding the knife. Without a word, the boy handed it over. The girl set the knife on the table and held on to the boy's arm for a moment, giving it a reassuring squeeze. She moved quickly across the room and opened the door to let the dog in. The dog rushed in, barking and ran over to the bed, giving Merle a suspicious sniff. Using a few words Merle didn't understand, the girl sent the dog over to lay down next to the fireplace. Merle watched the girl closely to see what she would do next. He could tell she was keeping a close watch on him as well.

She moved back across the room with large mannish steps and plucked up the glass of water she had been drinking from. Moving a little slower now, she came closer and offered him the glass, favoring him with a small smile. The girl was tall and had long blonde hair. She was wearing an extremely oversize men's shirt, an from the looks of it, not much underneath. The shirt hung down past her hips almost like a dress, and her legs were long and tan. The neck of the shirt was large on her as and was hung off one shoulder baring her collarbone. When Merle took the glass from her, their hands touched and he felt her stiffen up at the touch of him. He drank down the water gratefully and handed the glass back.

Merle moved to swing his legs over the side of the bed and get up. He could see a moment of panic in the girl's eyes and she put her hand on his chest to stop him. She took hold of the sheet that was covering him and pulled it back to reveal his leg. He didn't know much about medicine, but even he could tell his leg looked bad. Really bad.

"What happened to me?", Merle asked the girl. She didn't answer but instead turned to the boy and motioned for him to come closer.

"She don't barely speak no english," the boy explained. "We found you all busted up over by the creek." Then the boy added with his voice full of pride, "Iva fixed you up right good though. She knows about stuff like that."

"What about my brother?", Merle asked.

"I don't know about any brother," Toby replied, "when we found you, there was nobody else around. "

Now the girl took her opportunity to speak. She pointed at Merle's leg and gave him a firm look.

"No walk. No stand," she said. It clearly was not a question. The idea of this girl ordering Merle around made him grin a little, but from the look of his leg, it was best that he listened to her. She moved to set the empty water glass down, and picked up a mug. She handed it to him and he sniffed the contents. It looked like test and had a bitter smell. When she saw he was hesitating, she smiled and motioned encouragingly. She was a pretty enough girl, but when she smiled she was really beautiful. He thought he would have drank whatever was in that cup even if it had been a mug full of hot dog piss. The taste wasn't great but a few minutes later he could feel the pain in his head and leg start to dissipate. Guess she knew what she was doing after all.

By this time, the girl had sent the boy outside to do some errand that had to do with animals and water. Merle figured maybe they had more dogs out there or something. He looked around at what he could see from his angle. The cabin was one large room. The dog was still laying over by the fireplace. There must be a kitchen area behind where the bed was, since Merle could hear the girl in there banging ground doing something. He had also heard the girl opening and closing a fridge so there must be electricty. A dining table and chairs were in the center of the room, and a stuffed easy chair was over against the wall by a bookcase and a large dresser. Merle wished he could see outside so he would know how secure the cabin was from the biters, but he had no choice right now but to hope and trust until his leg was better. He could smell food and his stomach immediately started loudly growling. The girl appeared again with another mug. The contents of this one smelled much better than the last. She brought it to him and then grabbed a few pillows from the other side of the bed, stuffing then behind his back so he coukdnt sit comfortably. The mug was full of chicken bone broth with an egg dropped in and whisked until it was cooked through. It smelled amazing, especially on an empty belly, and Merle had to force himself to sip slowly to avoid burning his mouth.

The girl went to move back towards the kitchen but Merle motioned for her to stay. She sat down carefully on the edge of the bed so she wouldn't disturb his leg.

"Tell me your name," he said. She made no response except to raise one eyebrow. He thought for a moment and then gestured to himself.

"Merle," he announced. He saw a light of understanding come into her eyes and she smiled again.

She tapped her own chest gently and said, "Iva."


	6. Chapter 6

Two weeks in

Merle reached to feel the bed next to him. The pillow was cold, which meant Iva had been up for some time. That first night, when it was time for bed, she had simply laid down next to him and went to sleep. He had to admit, more than a few perverted thoughts had crossed his mind, especially since he had been naked and she had been wearing only that big shirt. Not that he would have been up for too much excitement anyway, with his leg the way it was, but that didnt stop him from thinking about it. The whole bed held the scent of her hair, which smelled like sunshine and oranges with a hint of horse. Merle would never admit it to anyone, but he thought she smelled better than any girl in expensive perfume.

He knew now that Toby slept nights in a large treehouse, so he could listen for the animals at night. And animals they had in plenty, on his many assisted trips outside to the outhouse, he had seen a mother horse with a colt, goats, and a few sheep. From inside he could hear roosters and ducks and even a few turkeys.

The yard area looked to him to be about an acre, fenced in with a 10 foot reinforced fence. It wouldn't keep out a mega herd, but around the outside of the fence was dense woods, so he doubted a herd that big could get into this area. He had been talking a lot with Toby. The boy had been tentative at first, avoiding him, but his desire to have a full conversation with someone who actually spoke english eventually won out. Toby had stayed with Iva over the winter after she found him up a tree surrounded by biters. He didnt know where she got all the animals, they had been there when he arrived. When he had explained their hunting methods to Merle, it had made the man laugh like crazy. He told Toby once he was up and kicking, he wood show him how to hunt 'the right way'. The boy had acted like he didn't care about the hunting lessons, but secretly he was thrilled. He had never known his father, and had bounced around, staying in foster homes and sometimes with his mother when she sobered up enough to get him back for a while. She had entertained a lot of boyfriends, but none of them had been interested in Toby unless it was to smack him around.

Merle also knew now that Toby loved Iva with a feeling that was close to worship. Not that he could blame the kid, but it was still funny to watch the him follow her around like a little puppy all day. Merle heard some scratchy tearing noise from the other side of the bed and a little orange and white kitten appeared. The kittens had been born a few weeks ago and they were now getting curious and starting to explore the house. Behind that one came the all black one, and then the black and white one that had the fluffy tail. They spotted Merle and came prancing over on their little kitten feet, looking to be stroked and petted. He obliged them, especially the rascally little orange one, who he had been calling mouser.

There was a small utility kitchen inside the cabin, but the main cooking area was outside. Good smells were starting to drift in thorough the screen door. Merle was good enough at hunting that he had never gone hungry before or after that turn, but he had never eaten so well as he did here. In addition to the animals, there were extensive gardens here. Iva grew food in just about every possible space outside. There were two large steel shelves packed with full canning jars inside the cabin, and since he had seen Iva go outside and come back in with more, he suspected there was a root cellar or basement full with more of them.

Iva and Toby came banging through the door holding plates and bowls. Iva saw he was awake and smiled at him. They set the food on the table and set to helping Merle outside to the bathroom and back in to sit in the big armchair. Iva got the other chair they used to prop up his bad leg and made sure he was comfortable. Then she brought one of the small folding tables over for him to eat on. Merle had always prided himself on being self sufficient, but with his injured leg, it had been easy to fall into letting her take care of him. She was so gracious and quiet about it, he never had to ask for anything, it seemed she just appeared with food, drink or whatever else he needed. Iva never expected a thank you or felt she was owed something for the help she gave. She had taken care of people all her life, her younger siblings, then her much older first husband, she had helped her parents as much as she could, and after her first husband had passed away, she had helped the other wives of her next one with their children. She loved taking care of people, it made her feel like she was needed.

Iva brought Merle over his breakfast. Today it was a big glass of iced tea, some fish fillets Toby had pan fried, a bowl of strawberries and a bowl of what Merle guessed was grits but was actually polenta, covered in butter and syrup with an overeasy fried egg on top. Toby made sure to announce that he caught the fish himself, which Merle knew was a joke, since they bred fish in an old above ground swimming pool. Iva used the the fish water to fertilize her gardens and they ate the fish when there were enough in there. To catch them you simply dipped a net in and came up with breakfast.

After the meal, Toby was off to check the traps they had set in the woods. He took the dog with him for protection. Merle was pretty sure the dog was a cattledog, but he had never seen one up close before. It was orange in some places and a smoky grey in others with black on its ears and tail. Iva had the dog well trained and it helped her with getting the animals to go where she wanted them. She called the dog Sandy, and she was her friend and protector. That dog could smell and hear a kwade from about a mile out and always gave them good warning when one was around. Before Toby came, Sandy and her horse were her only friends.

Iva finished up the dishes and turned to Merle, who was still sitting in what they all thought of now as his chair.

"Merle go out?", she asked, "sit porch?" She had been noticing that the man seemed restless being cooped up inside the cabin and she couldn't say she blamed him. She thought maybe he would rather sit outside and watch the animals.

"Yes," he said eagerly and without hesitation, making her laugh.

She moved the small table and helped him up onto his feet. He wrapped his bad arm around her shoulders, noticing as always that she looked at the wrist that ended in a stump. By now he knew she wasn't gawking, but checking to see if she felt it needed some salve put on. He had been skeptical a first about her doctoring, but after the skin there started feeling better and stopped hurting and itching all the time, he resigned himself to let her do whatever she felt was needed.

They headed through the screen door to the large wooden deck that served as the porch. It was a beautiful day outside and felt even nicer after being cooped up for what seemed like forever. Merle had been afraid to put too much weight on her at first, but she was stronger than she looked and by now he knew she could take it. He became aware of all the places her skin was touching his. Today she was had been working outside in the gardens and was wearing a pair of men's boxers with the waistband folded over and a dingy white mens wifebeater. The tank top was thin enough that Merle could tell she had no bra on under it. He was in a pair of sweatpants they had found for him to wear and his chest was bare.

The thought of coping a discreet feel on her crossed his mind, as it always did when she was helping him. Then he felt a little angry at himself for being such a pervert. She obviously wasn't that type of girl, and was way too young for him besides. Since she had done nothing but be kind and save his life, he figured he could at least show her some measure of respect. What he didn't know was Iva was also hyper aware of everywhere his skin was touching hers. She looked forward to helping him like this so she could get close to him and feel his arm around her. She looked young to Merle, but in the strange community she had grown up in, she had been considered a woman now for many many years. Her monthly flow had come when she was eleven, declaring her a woman, and she had been married then next year to a man almost fifty years her senior that her father had picked out for her. Having never known any other kind of marriages, Iva had been happy in her arranged match. She had loved her husband, who had been patient, kind, and generous to others. He had been the doctor and veterinarian for their entire community, which is where she had learned all her healing skills.

She got Merle settled down in a porch chair and dragged another one over so he could out his feet up. Then she looked down at herself. She had been digging and working in the garden all morning. Dirt was crusted on her knees and her bare feet were filthy. She was sweaty and her hair was starting to get greasy. Most of the gardening work she had set out to do today was done, and the animals were already fed and watered. The day was sunny and bright and she had the sudden notion to take a swim in the creek nearby. They used water from a rain bucket to wash up, but to get really clean she preferred to soap up and take a good swim. She headed inside to get a towel and grabbed another glass of tea for Merle in case he got thirsty while she was gone. The shotgun was leaning against the wall near the door. When he and Toby were both gone she gave it to the man to protect himself.

"Iva go swim,' she informed the man, handing him the tea and the gun. Merle wished she would wait until Toby got back to go with her. He didn't like her running off in the woods by herself, but he did see she had her bow and knife with her so at least she was prepared if she ran into any biters. She smiled and headed off down to the gate, her hips twitching as she walked.

Iva picked up speed as the creek got closer. It wasn't her favorite lake she had swam in as a child, but the water was clean and deep enough to swim in. She stripped off her clothes and splashed in. After she dunked under a few times, she grabbed the bar of soap they left down here inside a box for this purpose. She lathered up and gave her hair a good scrub at the roots, then went back to dunk herself again. The water was cold but it felt good on such a hot day. She finished rinsing and then took off to stretch her arms, swimming upstream against the current. Once she started to tire she turned around and let the current carry her back. She climbed out and used the small towel she brought to dry herself off. She laid it on the ground and sat down on it, loving the feel of the sun on her bare skin. She reached in the box and grabbed a bottle of vinegar that had orange peels floating in it. She sprayed this on her hair to help with the tangles and then used a small stick to comb them out.

Merle was sitting on the porch. Ha had watched the animals for a while, and mouser, the little orange cat, had squeezed through a flap in the screen and settled down to have a kitten nap in his lap. He wasn't sure exactly how long Iva had been gone but it seemed like too long. Not only was he worried about her, but after his confinement inside the cabin, his skin has lost its summer color and his chest was starting to get quite red in the morning sun.

Iva got done with her hair and figured she better be heading back to camp. She felt fresh and clean and looked at her dirty clothes, wishing she had brought somethin else to put on. Forget it, she decided, she would just walk back like this and get some clean clothes from inside the cabin. Merle was there, but he was a grown man and surely had seen women naked before. Sometimes the way he looked at her made her feel naked even when she had her grubby work overalls on.

Mouser hopped down and scampered back to the door. Merle was getting very uncomfortable now and all the squirming he was doing had disturbed the tiny kitten. Finally he heard the gate and what he saw made him forget all about his burning skin. Iva had her bow slung over her shoulder but other than that she was stark naked. Her had gotten a few good looks at her but it was nothing compared to actually seeing her. She had long tan muscular legs that led up to a soft patch of hair just a little darker than the hair on the head. Her hips were round and her stomach was flat and toned. She had full breasts tipped in soft pink nipples that were jutting out between her long locks of wavy hair. She came closer, setting her things down, her nudity forgotten. She pressed a finger gently on his chest, checking to see how bad the burn was. She figured she must be the worst caretaker in the world, leaving this poor man out here to get boiled alive in the sun and adding more pain when he was already injured enough. She chastised herself for swimming and enjoying the day and forgetting his needs.

Iva knew she needed to get him inside and tend to his burn immediately. Her expression was so sad and upset he almost started laughing. After all, it was just a sunburn, he had had a lot worse than that in his day. He put his arm around Iva so she could help him inside. He could feel the side of her breast pressing against his bare chest. He didn't want to admit how long it had been since he had a woman but it had been awhile. He couldn't help himself from becoming aroused and there was suddenly a lot more of him down below than there had been before. Iva was oblivious to this, and was just concerned the sunburn that she knew was her fault.

They crossed the room and Iva helped him to lay down and get his bad leg up unto the bed. She threw her nightshirt in without buttoning it and ran outside the grab the pot of aloe she has growing on the porch. She cracked off a wide leaf and leaned over Merle, squeezing the leaf to get to the soothing liquid inside and applying it liberally to his chest. The medicine felt good, but not as good as the skin of her legs where she was brushing against his hand. He rubbed his knuckles gently against the skin on the outside of her thigh. Trailing his hand up slowly, he stroked the curve of her hip. She stopped rubbing in the aloe and stood there very still. The man had never touched her this way before and she wasn't sure what he was doing. She glanced down and noticed the suspicious bulge in his pants. Her shirt was unbuttoned and hanging open, with the way she was leaning over him, he was getting quite a nice eyefull. Merle moved his hand up her waist, cupping one of her breasts and rubbing he thumb gently across her nipple. She gasped loudly and pulled him out of the trance he felt like he was in.

He snatched his hand away, cursing himself for what he had done. Iva was confused. Has she done something wrong? She quickly closed her shirt, backing up and then took off outside. She ran all the way back to the barn and sat down hard on a pile of straw. He had been touching her, and she had liked it, and then he had just snatched his hand away and recoiled from her like she was repulsive. She felt hot tears welling up in her eyes, but she could still feel a tingle on her skin where he had touched her.

Merle was laying in the bed cursing himself. Why would he ever this a beautiful young woman like that would ever be interested in him. She probably wouldn't even be getting close to him if she wasn't trying to help him with his burn. Iva had saved his life, saved his leg, fed him, housed him and helped him and how did he repay her? By groping her like some pubescent teenage boy. If you have never done a fucking decent thing in your life, he told himself, you will keep your goddamn hands off that girl and leave her alone.


	7. Chapter 7

****I own nothing from the Walking Dead or the Earths Children Series. I saw I have a few people following this story now and would love some reviews****

Daryl

When Daryl showed back up at the prison, they had been under attack. No one had thought to ask why Daryl was back alone or where his brother was. Glen hoped he was dead, even though he would feel bad for Daryl if that was the case. They had enough to worry about without having to babysit a lunatic. Michonne had saved Hershel during the attack, securing her spot as a member of the group. Rick took her with him on a supply run for more guns and ammo, leaving Daryl to keep an eye on things at the prison.

Carol waited until she saw him go into his cell alone before she approached him. Maggie was on watch and Beth was watching Judith and trying to figure out what they were going to have for dinner. Daryl was sitting on his bed, sulking and poking through a container of arrows. She tapped a little on the bars but she had a feeling he already knew she was there.

"So?," she asked, "what happened?"

"Nothing," he replied with a hard edge to his voice. Carol knew by now that no one could force Daryl to talk if he wasn't feeling like it. The only thing to do was sit down and wait him out. She picked a spot on a stool against the wall and watched him poke through his arrows. After a few minutes, he figured she wasn't going to leave him alone until he answered. He gave her a quick review of what happened, being careful to leave out the part where Merle was robbing that family. Not that Carol cared what Merle was doing, but it seemed to Daryl that he had been covering for his brother his entire life. It was a hard habit to shake.

"Maybe once things here settle down, you can go look for him," Carol suggested even though she would have been just as happy never to see Merle Dixon again and she she had a strong suspicion she wasn't the only one.

"If he wants to see me, he knows where I am," Daryl replied in his typical monotone. Carol got up and gave Daryl a gentle squeeze on the shoulder. He put his hand over hers and looked at her gratefully. She started out of the cell and ran smack into Beth, who was looking like the cat that caught the canary. Carol didnt say anything but motioned for Beth to follow her back to the kitchen.

"Sorry," Beth whispered, "I was just worried about what happened to Daryl out there and I was too scared to ask." Beth's concern for the man showed plainly on her face and it made Carol feel a little sad. She knew the chances of her a Daryl getting together were slim to none, but they decreased to absolute zilch if she had to compete with someone as young and pretty as Beth.

"When he showed back up without Merle I thought what happened would have been a lot worse," Carol answered, "I think he will be okay." Beth paused a minute before she replied.

"We all may be a lot of things," Beth said, "but we are pretty fucking far from okay." Maybe it was the absolute truth of her statement or hearing how strange a swear word sounded coming out of Beth's mouth, but they both started laughing. The sound brought Daryl out of his cell and he stood there staring it the two women who looked like they were about out of their damn minds, laughing like a crazy couple hyenas.

"What's so funny," he asked.

"Nothing," they both said at the same time, which made them start up giggling again. Daryl turned and went back into his cell.

Beth turned to Carol and said in the most serious voice she could muster, "whatever you do, don't tell my dad I was cussing."


	8. Chapter 8

Toby

It had been one hell of a lucky day with the traps. He already had three rabbits, two had been in snares and he had gotten another one with his slingshot. When he thought about it, the rabbits really made him laugh. Back before the turn he never even knew you could eat a rabbit, and now it was one of his favorite things. Especially when Iva cooked it, but then again she could make anything taste good. He would see if he could talk her into making that paprikash stuff, it was rabbit left on the bone and cooked in its own fat with homemade noodles dropped in and cooked in the rabbit broth. Thinking about it was already making his mouth water.

Before he came to live with Iva, the closest Toby had come to a homecooked meal was frozen chicken nuggets that you heated up yourself in the oven. He thought he might as well see if he could get one more rabbit since there were three of them to feed now instead of only two. Sandy trotted along beside him, occasionally disappearing off into the woods to investigate some new smell and then popping back up again. Toby heard a branch break a little ways away and went still. He looked at Sandy, her hair was standing up on her back and she was issuing a low growl in her throat. This could only mean one thing; Kwade. Toby stepped quietly through the woods, circling around where the noise had come from and hoping there were not too many of them. He smiled when he saw there were only two and motioned the dog to stay hidden.

Toby found a large rock and tossed it as far as he could away from him. The kwade were stupid and moved towards the noise. Toby put a small hard rock in the cup of his slingshot and pulled it back as far as it would go. Sometimes the kwade were too fresh and the bones were still hard, those could not be killed with a slingshot. These old crusty ones would be easy pickings though. He released the rock and watched as it penetrated the head, blasting though to the other side and dropping the monster in its tracks. He got his knife out for the other one and revealed himself.

The mindless thing shambled towards him moaning and groaning. Sandy could no longer be held back and dashed out to run around it barking and nipping. The kwade lunged for the dog but got only thin air and fell to the ground. Toby moved quick, stepping on its neck to keep it from getting back up and stabbing it in the head. He knelt down and searched its pockets, a little tip Merle had given him. He found a wad of cash which was useless and a lighter, which was mildly more exciting. In the other dead ones pockets he got lucky with a bag of weed. He wasn't sure how Iva felt about smoking but he figured if she was really upset he would just get rid of it. Off to hunt more rabbits, Toby watched the pile of cash blow away in the wind and thought about how he would have given anything before the turn to have that much cash. Now it was about as much use as a broke dick.

An hour or two later, Toby had bagged 4 rabbits and a fat stupid goose that had been sitting on a nest. He had taken the eggs and put them gently inside his shirt to keep them warm. Maybe Iva could put them in her chicken egg hatching thingy and they could eat those geese too when they got big enough, or they could always just eat the eggs if that didnt work. He knew the way back, but so did Sandy and it was easier just to follow her.

When he came in through the gate he was greeted by the horses, especially the small colt who was beginning to wander a little further from its mother and take interest in its human companions. He didnt see Iva anywhere so he headed for the house, knowing Merle was in there.

"Whatcha got there son," he heard the man call out from the bed. He came over and proudly showed off his catch. Since Iva was still outside and not around to throw a complete and absolute fit, he swung his own legs out of the bed and hopped on his good leg over the the table.

"If Iva sees you dragging that broke ass leg around like that she gone kill you," Toby remarked laughing. Merle smiled at the comment but Toby could see something was wrong, maybe something to do with Iva. Normally she was buzzing around the man doing everything but wipe his damn ass for him and now she was conspicuously absent.

"Lets get that goose plucked," the man said, reaching out his good hand for the bird. Toby handed it over, then remembering the eggs, he showed them to Merle as well.

"You think we could hatch 'em?" Toby asked the man.

Merle shrugged and told him, "best to go ask Iva fore they get too cold." Toby found her quickly, the yard was only so big after all. She was in the barn in her nightshirt petting and murmuring to one of the goats. She smiled when she saw Toby and moved straight away into action when he showed her the eggs. They rushed back up to the house and she got the large box out that she used to hatch the chicken and duck eggs. They used some grass to make a soft spot for the eggs and put the heat lamp over them. Merle sat at the table, plucking the goose and watching then with no small amount of amusement. Now Toby was showing her the rabbits and practically begging for some certain dinner he wanted. Iva agreed to make it, of course, she would do almost anything to make Toby happy.

Iva sent the boy out to skin the rabbits and brought Merle some water from the fridge. She looked at the floor while she handed it to him and he swore her eyes looked red rimmed like she had been crying. He wanted to say something to make it better but for once in his life he was at a loss for words. She looked up at his face with such a sad soft expression and before he could do anything she reached out and gently stroked his face with the tips of her fingers. Then she took of for outside like someone had lit a damn fire under her ass. Now what in the hell was that, Merle thought. One minute shes freaking out, gasping and jumping away when he barely touched her, and the next minute she was touching his face like they were lovers.

"Go all my damn life and never understand fucking women," he muttered to himself and turned back to the goose.

Toby was most excited for this meal, and the excitement was catching. While Iva was outside cooking, he had come back in and showed Merle the weed. It was clear the boy was concerned about how Iva was going to react, but Merle had a feeling she had no idea what the stuff even was. He had asked her once before about some bottles of wine that were in a rack against the wall, and she had told him he better not drink that juice because she thought it had gone bad.

"Go get a pop can, an empty one", Merle told Toby, "and we need a lighter." The kid practically fell over himself getting the lighter out that he had found earlier and handing it over to the man. Then he took off like a rocket and Merle could hear him outside digging furiously through the pile they kept of trash they planned to burn later. Iva cast him a suspicious look but didn't say anything. His excited and silly behavior was putting her in a much better mood. The truth was she loved the young man about to a million pieces and when he was happy, he made her even happier.

While she was finishing up with the dough for the noodles, she smelled an unfamiliar odor coming from inside the house. Some smoke was coming out the screen door as well. She charged up to the door with some alarm and found the two boys breathing in smoke out of an old dirty pop can.

"What you do?", she asked them. Merle held up a baggie full of some kind of plants for her inspection. "Make tea?", she asked. This of course sent both Toby and Merle into a fit of hysterical laughter. She shook her head at them and walked out. Whatever those crazy English were up to she didn't want any part of . She could hear them laughing more from inside and she guessed it had something to do with whatever they were inhaling. She wasn't familiar with this particular plant, but she knew many others that could be smoked or consumed for various different medicinal or recreational purposes.

Toby was having the time of his life. He was high as a damn kite for one thing, and getting treated like he was a grown up by his new friend Merle. And Iva was still making him his special dinner, even though she kept peeking at then through the screen door every so often to make sure they weren't doing anything crazy. Since all they were doing was talking and laughing she quickly lost interest. Merle told him some funny stories about him and his brother when they had been kids and Toby listened with rapt attention. There was nothing Merle liked more than a captive audience and he was enjoying himself.

Iva brought in the food and that shut then both up quickly. It smelled so good Toby said a silent reminder to himself not to overdue it and make himself sick. They had a nice meal together, talking and laughing, listening to Iva tell a funny story in her broken english about the time her and her brother let a baby duck loose in her grandmother's house. Merle had the small orange kitten on his shoulder and was feeding it tiny pieces of rabbit meat until it fell off onto the table, hissed at him and ran away.

"Fucking hiss at me like it was my fault, " Merle laughed after the small cat. She hissed at him again from the corner making everyone laugh. Iva and Toby cleaned up all the dinner dishes and Toby announced he was going to bed. He hugged Iva goodnight like he always did, but paused at the door and then ran back and hugged Merle as well. Merle felt the boy was probably a little too old for goodnight hugs, especially from him, but he have him a rough pat on the back and sent him on his way.

Toby laid down on his cot up in his treehouse, enjoying the evening breeze. Sometimes, the dog would follow him up, but she seemed content to lay by the fireplace tonight so he let her be. As Toby fluffed up his pillow and got himself comfortable he was happier than he had been in as long as he could remember. Some small part of this was due to all the marijuana he had smoked earlier but some of it was not. He had been happy here with Iva, who was the best friend he had ever had, but it seemed different now. Toby had a real family now, and that was something he had never had before.


	9. Chapter 9

Beth

Beth hated being dirty. She hated being scared. And she hated being tired and hungry. Most of all shed hated seeing people she cared about in pain and not being able to do anything about it. In her darkest moments she wished she had killed herself back on the farm. But she didnt try again. She resolved herself to just keep fighting and take every day as one more day that she shouldn't have, a gift.

All anyone talked about these days was the governor. When he was coming, what he would try to do, how they were going to fight him. Beth wished he would hurry up and get it over with. Maggie would never admit it, but Beth knew her sister was more scared of him than anyone else. He had done something terrible to her, but no one would tell Beth what. They treated her like she wasn't old enough to know. Well she had some news for them, if the governor did show up chances were he would think Beth was plenty old enough to rape. He wasn't going to stop and say, okay here since no one tells Beth anything we won't hurt her now. It made her mad sometimes, her life was just as much on the line as Daryl's or Rick's or Michonne's.

Taking care of baby Judith was Beth's favorite thing to do. She was smiling now, which no one else ever did anymore. Beth worried a lot about the baby though. What would happen if they ran out of formula for her, or she got sick and they didn't have anymedicine for her. She had been worrying a lot about Daryl too. He didn't say much but she noticed he had been spending more and more time in his room lying on the bed. When he did come out, he seemed like he was must going through the motions of doing things, like he wasn't really in there.

Beth saw him heading towards his cell, he had been on watch but his turn must be over. She remembered when Maggie had been so upset, holding the baby had made her feel better, and she wondered if it would work on Daryl too. She lifted Judith up and balanced her on her hip. Beth swore she got heavier every day. The baby growing and thriving was the one good thing happening in this place.

Daryl was laying on his bunk thinking about another nap when Beth appeared in the doorway, holding the baby. She smiled at him, but he just stared back at her. For a second she thought about forgetting her plan and just walking away but she steeled herself and entered the room.

"I have to help Carol with something in the kitchen," she said, "can you hold the baby for a minute. Daryl was surprised at the question. No one ever asked him to look after the baby and he thought about asking her if she had seen a goddamn sign that said Daryl's daycare on the way in. Instead he just held his arms out. Beth approached and gently laid the baby down on his chest. She had never been this close to Daryl before, Carol was the only one she had ever seen in his personal space. Judith lifted her head up and grabbed for his beard.

"Damn," he said, "she's got a strong ass grip." He pried her little fingers off his beard as gently as he could, losing a few facial hairs in the process. Then Beth saw something she didnt think she would ever see again. Daryl looked over at her and smiled.


	10. Chapter 10

Merle and Iva

Iva measured the time by the cycle of the moon. Almost two moons had passed, so Merle figured it had been around two months. A few days ago, he had carefully started putting weight on his leg. It was no longer wrapped in the wood and cloth. Some time ago, Iva had replaced that with a hard cast made from birchbark. She had waited until the swelling was down and the cuts had healed, then soaked the bark for a long time, wrapped it around his leg and simply let it dry. He had a large walking stick he could put some of his weight on, and now he seemed to be getting around just fine. Iva was happy and relieved to see her efforts had not been wasted. She had helped set bones before, but never done it by herself.

Three of the four goose eggs hatched, and the geese were now happily honking around the yard with the chickens and ducks. Iva had clipped their wings so they couldn't fly away. The boys were sitting at a table outside, cleaning the guns. They had the shotgun and two handguns. Iva was in the outdoor kitchen area, making cheese from goat's milk and watching them. That silly orange kitten was under the table, stalking back and forth between them rubbing itself against their legs. Iva had been thinking of a fruit farm she knew was only a few miles away, and how it was the right time of the year for ripe cherries. She walked over to the table where the boys were.

"Iva go," she said, "pick cherry today."

"Sounds good," Merle answered, trying not to smile, "when are WE going?" Toby started laughing a little and Merle gave him a swift kick under the table sending the cat streaking out of there. Iva stood there looking at him with her hand cocked up on her hip and her apron on. She had a mixed expression on her face. He could walk now, but not very fast. If more than a few kwade came, they would have to run and he might not be able to get away. On the other hand, he was taller than Toby and two picking would go faster than one. He could be a big help. Merle watched her face go from surprised to confused to worried, and then her eyes got all big and excited and she gave him a big beautiful smile.

"Merle go!", she exclaimed, " Merle ride horse." When he thought about it, really it was a good idea. He knew he wasn't moving too fast these days, but if he rode the horse he could get away fast if he needed to. Toby looked at the two of them, smiling at each other.

"Toby is staying here," he announced emphatically. There wasn't a fresh fruit in the world that was making him go cherry picking with the two of them. Lately they had been driving him crazy. All they did was walk around, making stupid moo moo eyes and staring at each other when the other one wasn't looking, and neither of them seemed to want to do anything about it. Stupid is what that was. If a girl as pretty as Iva ever looked at him like that, you best believe he wouldn't be mumbling all awkward and trying to get away from her. At first it had made him feel jealous, Iva had been his friend first and since there was no on else around he figured she could be his girlfriend when he got old enough. But as he got to know and like the older man, he started hoping the man would fall in love with Iva and want to stay there with them. Merle had mentioned a few times that when his leg was better he needed to go look for his brother, and that made Toby sad.

What Toby didn't know was that Merle had been struggling with many if the same conflicting feelings. He was happy his leg was getting better, but being better meant he needed to go look for Daryl and he didn't really want to leave. He liked it here, He had never lived somewhere he liked so much, even before the turn. For now, he had decided that he owed Iva and Toby quite a large debt. He was going to stay a while and help them out to repay them. Really it was just an excuse not to leave like he had originally planned.

Iva watched Merle gear up for the trip. She thought he was being a little over the top, they were just going to pick fruit, not start a war. He had both the handguns, the shotgun was being left there with Toby. He had that metal thing back on his arm and Toby had duct taped a knife to the end of it. Actually, Iva thought, that was kind of smart. He had another knife strapped to his leg.

"We go now?" Iva asked with a wicked smile, "or Merle need more knife?" She was wearing a pair of work coveralls and she had her bow and arrows on her back and a knife in a sheath on her thigh. Under the coveralls she wasn't wearing much, just a tubular piece of stretchy fabric she wore pulled up over her breasts to keep them from bouncing all over the place when she rode her horse. She had her hair bound up into a big sloppy bun on top of her head. She didnt need to carry much since she had the rest of what they needed packed up in side baskets that were attached to the horse.

"Better learn to watch your mouth woman," he joked, "or I will take you back inside and smack you around a little."

"Have to catch me first," she reminded him. He started to laugh. She was getting better at talking and understanding, which meant getting better at throwing some attitude back at him when he was giving her a hard time. It wasn't much fun to tease someone who couldn't talk back or understand you. Iva used the horse's mane and pulled herself up onto it's back in a gracefully fluid motion. Merle had seen her do this before and it still impressed him. Most girls he knew wouldn't even touch a horse. Didn't mean they were bad at taking rides though, he thought wickedly to himself.

He stood up on the wooden stairs of the deck and she led the horse over so he would have an easier time getting on. He grabbed ahold and tossed his bad leg over first and hauled himself up behind Iva, finding out quickly that getting onto a horse with only one good arm and one good leg was no easy task. Toby opened the gate for them and they were off.

Being out in the world felt invigorating after such a long stay inside the fences. What Merle hadn't planned for was being so close to Iva. After that day he touched her, he had made it a point to stay out of her personal space whenever humanly possible. Less temptation that way, he figured. And now she was pretty much sitting directly on his dick. Her back was pressed up against him and he had to wrap his arm around her to keep from falling off the damn horse. Not only that, but everytime the horse took a step, it was rubbing her backside against him. He started trying to think of every unappealing thing he could, old nasty crack whores with no teeth, football, prison sex, that time he had walked in on Daryl having sex. Actually, that had been pretty funny. Despite his best efforts, by the time they had traveled the few miles to the orchard, he had a raging hard on.

Iva swung her leg over and jumped gracefully to the ground. She always landed like a cat, making almost no noise at all. On the ride there, she had felt what was going on behind her, but she wasn't sure exactly what to do about it. Where she had grown up, women were expected to be submissive. A woman approaching a man for sex would not have been acceptable. She had her share of sex, some that was boring, some that hurt, and some that was mildly exciting, but never any that had been initiated by her.

Merle took of around behind the closest tree and whipped his dick out, giving himself a couple good pumps. It didn't even feel that good but at least it released the pressure. He hadn't had a case of blue balls since he was fucking thirteen years old.

"Gotta piss, young gotta piss, " he told Iva. She had the buckets out and her back was to him. He walked over to get a bucket, after all they had come all the way over here, might as well get the damn cherries. She turned and thrust it at him with significant force. Her eyes were full of water and she had big fat tears rolling down her face. Merle stood there for a minute, dumbfounded. Dealing with sobbing ass bitches wasn't exactly his specialty. And what was she crying about anyway. He had a feeling she knew what he had really been doing behind that tree, and he knew it was little disgusting, but there was no reason to start crying about it.

She turned back away from him, wiping the tears off with her arm and started picking cherries. They dropped into her bucket with little thud noises. Normally, Merle would ignore a crying girl. But this wasn't just any girl, it was Iva. And Iva was his friend; he liked her. He felt bad he had done something to make her that upset. There was something nagging at him about this situation too, like there was a piece of the puzzle missing and he didn't know which piece. Iva felt his hand come down gently on her back.

"Iva," he asked, "why are you crying?" She just shook her head, feeling a fresh burst of tears come into her eyes. What is he asking me that for, she thought. Its obvious what's wrong. She liked him, and he found her so disgusting, he would rather touch himself like a boy not ready for marriage yet than touch her. He was probably only asking so he could laugh at her some more. She was staring down at her feet, but she snuck a quick look at his face. He didn't look like he thought this was funny. Maybe she should just tell him what was wrong so he would leave her alone.

"Iva cry," she said, frustrated that she couldn't find the right words in english to explain herself, "because you no like Iva."

"What the hell do you mean Iva," he declared, "I like you just fine." Iva knew he liked her fine as a friend. That was the problem. She liked him different from that. She just didn't know how to explain herself. Throwing her hands up in irritation, she went to turn away again. He took hold of her arm and turned he back to him.

"What the hell is going on with you," he demanded to know.

"Iva stupid!," she said in a sad and disgruntled voice, "Iva no know right word to say."

"Try." She stammered a little and kicked at the grass. Then said a few words which Merle was pretty sure were cuss words in her language.

"Merle like Iva same as Toby," she explained and then took a long pause. She knew english people must have a name for someone they felt a special way about, she just didn't know what it was. Back when she was a child, Iva helped her father sell vegetables at the farmers market. That was the last time she heard a lot of english people. Her father knew english, but women in her community were forbidden from learning it. There had been a pretty young woman that used to come to their booth almost every weekend. Once she had spotted Iva staring at a beautiful scarf she was wearing and given it to her. She had shown up once with a handsome young man and had said, this is John, he is my husband. Husband, Iva thought that was the right word. She remembered how the girl had held onto the young man's arm and they had been looking at each other in a soft special way. Iva's people didnt believe in public displays of affection and she remembered thinking how much in love they must have been to be touching each other where everyone could see them.

"Merle like Iva for friend," she started again, more confident this time, "and Iva like Merle for husband." Husband, he thought, what in the hell was she talking about now. Its not like they could get married, they were in the middle of the damn woods. He thought it through some more, trying to understand what she was telling him. Suddenly it was like someone turned on a light bulb inside his head.

"Are you upset because you think I don't want to have sex with you?," he asked her. She looked down again and nodded. She wasn't for sure what sex meant in english but the way he said it gave her a good idea. Now Merle started laughing, really laughing. All the women he had been with and he couldn't tell the difference between a shy young woman being afraid to make an advance on him and getting the brush off. Iva did not think this was so funny. Here she had put all her feelings out there and now he was laughing at her, just like she had been afraid he would.

She shook his hand off her arm and went to turn away again, but he grabbed her and pulled her back. Before she knew what was happening she was pressed against him with his arms around her. He hugged her tightly. Her body tensed against him at first but then relaxed and he felt her arms go up around his neck. He pulled his head back and tipped her chin up with his hand so he could kiss her. Using uncharacteristic restraint, he pressed his lips to hers gently at first, giving her time to back off if she wanted to. She kissed him back, one of her hands stroking the back of his head and neck, pulling him closer. When he parted her lips with his tounge, he felt her body press against him and she moaned softly into his mouth. Merle would have liked to have his way with her right then and there, but they were in out in the open, unprotected. It would be better to wait until they got home. He backed away from her slowly.

"Merle?," she asked him softly, "mouth on mouth, what is english word for that?"

"A kiss," he answered, "you like that?"

"Yes," she answered, blushing.

"Well lets get these fucking cherries picked and I will take you back to camp and give you another one."


	11. Chapter 11

****I know its been pretty PG-13 so far but keep in mind this story is rated M for mature for a reason. Enjoy!****

Merle and Iva part 2

When Merle and Iva got back from their run, Toby could tell something was going on. He waited until Iva took the cherries inside to put them in the fridge, then approached Merle and elbowed him a little in his ribs.

"Did ya'all do it yet or what?," Toby asked the man, with a big grin. Toby was at the age where he wavered between thinking he might want to have sex and still thinking it was really gross. His question sent Merle off laughing and the man leaned down and whispered to the boy to be sure Iva didn't hear.

"Not yet," he said, "and its never going to happen with you hanging around. So why don't you do me a favor and piss off for a while."

"Hmmm," Toby said, making a face like a villain off TV and stroking a pretend beard, "I don't know. What are you going to do for me?"

"How 'bout I start by not beating your skinny ass," Merle replied, making a grab for the boy who danced back out of reach easily. They stood smiling at each other a minute and then Toby called inside to Iva.

"Hey Iva! If I go check the snares will you cook me whatever I want for dinner?" Iva came out and stood with her hands on her hips, considering this proposal for a moment. She nodded and whistled for the dog, then pointed towards Toby, signaling the dog to go with him. She saw Toby start off towards the gate and then he turned and held up his thumb at Merle wiggling his eyebrows up and down. Iva didn't know what was so funny but she had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with her. It was awfully convenient that Toby was taking off on a run now that would take him quite a while, that he usually only did first thing in the morning. She had a feeling Merle had sent him away and it made her feel good that he wanted to be alone with her.

Any doubts she had about his attraction to her had been cleared up on the ride back. He had been rubbing his hand up and down her leg and caressing her hips and stomach, kissing her neck until she had to tell him to quit it because she could barely guide the horse. When they got back she had took off inside with the cherries so she could splash some cold water on her face. As excited as she had felt to hurry up and get back here, now she was feeling a little nervous.

She darted back inside the cabin and busied herself picking up some things and putting them down in another spot. The screen door banged shut and she could hear Merle come in and sit down heavily on the bed. Iva didn't know why she felt so nervous, after all she saw and talked to the man every day. He took off his armpiece and set it on the small table next to the bed. Then he just sat there looking at her and smiling. She wasn't sure what she should do so she walked over and sat next to him on the bed with her hands in her lap, staring at the floor, her face getting redder and redder.

Merle found her suddenly shy behavior endearing, if he hadn't seen how hot and heavy she had been getting with him earlier he wouldn't have believed it. He saw her sneak a tiny peek at him from the corner of her eye and then look immediately back down at the floor. Her face was getting about as red as his chest from a few weeks ago when he got that sunburn. She was sitting on the side of him that was missing the hand so he reached over with the other one and unsnapped the metal clip on one side of her overalls. Now she was looking at him, watching him to see what he was going to do next. Moving his hand as slowly as possible, he reached over and undid the other clip, letting the front and back denim flaps fall open. She smiled now, understanding that he was joking with her a little. Iva let out a deep breath she hadn't realized she was holding in and felt herself relax.

She flicked her tounge out and licked her lips, then leaned closer and pressed her mouth to his. No one had ever kissed her like he had done earlier that day and she was eager for more. They both knew what was going on here, she reminded herself, there was no reason to keep acting so proper and pretending she didn't want what was happening. She had been taught as a girl that it was improper for a woman to make sexual advances or show signs of sexual desire. Slowly she was learning this was another way her people were different from the english. She had understood from their conversation earlier that because she had not showed any interest, Merle had assumed she actually wasn't interested and she didn't want him to make that mistake again.

He kissed her back and then leaned back a little and pulled off his shirt. Iva had seen him shirtless before, when she was taking care if him and when he had been washing up. She liked looking at him, but looking was nothing compared to looking and being able to feel. She had a gentle healers touch, despite the fact that her hands were rough and calloused from a lifetime of farm work. He leaned in and kissed her again but now he could feel her hands on him. She touched his arms and shoulders and ran her hands up and down the length of his back and stomach. She was bare from the waist up now except for the stretchy little tube top she had on. He hooked his thumb in the top of it and pulled it down, baring her breasts. Her nipples prickled up at the sudden rush of cold air and she leaned in closer to him for some body heat, pressing her naked breasts against his chest.

For just a second, she was pressed against him so tight, she could feel his heart beating against hers. Merle pulled back and motioned for her to swing her legs up and lay down on the bed. He pulled his legs into the bed just a little less gracefully and lay down as well, pulling her body close to his. She was looking at him now and her eyes were dark and full of desire. He reminded himself he better get her good and ready, since he had a feeling he wasn't going to last long once he got inside her. With soft small kisses he worked his way across her jawline and kissed her behind the ear, then took her ear into his mouth and gave it a gentle nibble. Her hips rocked against him and he moved his mouth back to hers. She parted her lips for him, sucking his tounge hard. Then she rocked onto her back pushing her overalls down and kicking them off. So much for little miss prim and proper he thought with a laugh. The fact that she might be a virgin had crossed his mind, but he was guessing now that was probably not the case. It was just as well, he wanted her to enjoy this, not be in pain, and now he didn't have to worry about hurting her.

They were really kissing now, the kind of kissing where you have to take a break to breathe but you don't want to stop. She pulled back first for air and he kept going, sucking her neck and kissing the hollow of her throat. Cupping a breast in his hand, he stroked his thumb across her nipple and then took it into his mouth and sucked hard, feeling the skin change texture. Her soft moans were getting louder now and she reached for him, feeling what was there through the fabric of his pants. He rolled away from her and pushed them down, of course they got all hung up on the stupid cast and he had to sit up and yank from the ankle end to get the damn things off. Not very smooth, he thought. Turning back towards her, he knew it was the first time she had sent him fully erect. The reactions he got from women never ceased to amuse him. Some got excited, some looked scared and one extremely high one had simply gotten out of the bed and said hell no. Didn't matter to him he had jerked off and wiped it all over her pillows. The reaction he was about to get from Iva did matter to him.

She glanced down and gave him a small shy smile then just lay there looking up at him with a perfect expression of love and trust. Her hair was all mussed up around her face and to Merle in that moment it looked like a halo on an angel. He leaned in and kissed her again, the full lengths of their bodies naked now. Her skin felt so good against him he was afraid for a moment he would shoot one off all over her and ruin the moment. He had his hand on her ass, stroking it and squeezing gently. Rubbing her hips her slid his hand between them. Her thighs tensed for just a second and then relaxed, falling apart. She felt the tip of his finger dip inside her and then he started rubbing the spot just above her opening. It seemed to her nothing in her life had ever felt as good as this felt, right now.

Once she started really rocking her hips, he moved his hand down and slipped his finger inside her. She dug her fingers into his arm and moaned into his neck. When he added the second finger he felt her start to spasm with a soft gush of warm fluid. She was panting and gasping and not even sure what was happening to her, she only knew that it felt amazing and she wanted more, a lot more. He tried not to think about how tight she was around his fingers when he rolled on top of her and guided his length inside. Placing her hands on the sides of his face she pulled his mouth to hers and kissed him passionately. When he started moving in and out of her is when she started saying things he couldn't understand. He had seen girls do some crazy things in bed, but having one spout off dirty talk in another language was definitely a first.

Unable to hold back anymore, he was really pumping into her now. She had her knees up, bucking her hips back and up to meet his thrusts. She was holding onto his shoulders and he was up on his elbows to keep from squashing her. He felt her body go stiff and then the inside of her exploded in warmth. That was all he could take and he came hard, shooting his load off nice and deep up inside her. He lay there like that for a minute, kissing her forehead and each soft cheek, then gently withdrew and flopped back onto the bed.

They had been on top of the covers, but Iva leaned down and grabbed the little throw blanket she kept at the foot of the bed and pulled it up over them. Then she snuggled in close, with her head in the crook of his shoulder. He rubbed her back softly, noticing some scars there he hadn't seen before. Satisfied and comfortable, they both drifted off to sleep. What seemed like about five seconds, but was actually about two hours later they were woken by someone pounding on the doorframe of the cabin.

"Aren't you fuckers done fucking yet?," Toby hollered, "I'm bored and its dinner time." Merle sat up to see Toby was standing inside the cabin with one of his hands over his eyes. Iva didn't even bother to sit up, she just lay there laughing.

"You promised me dinner," he reminded her, peeking through his fingers at them both. He saw they were mostly covered with a blanket and took his hand down. Merle swung his legs out and pulled his pants back on. Iva started to get up and he motioned for her to stay, pulling the blanket back up and tucking her in. Toby looked at the developing situation with some concern.

"Whos going to make dinner?," he asked the man.

"Don't need no women's help son," Merle told him as he grabbed his walking stick, "bout time you learned how to grill you a steak."


	12. Chapter 12

Iva

Iva had the most sturdy pair of scissors she could find. They were out on the porch and she was finally cutting the cast off Merle's leg. Toby was bopping around behind her, feeling excited.

"Its like watching a baby get born!," he declared, making everyone laugh. Iva who was the only one of the three who had actually seen a baby be born knew this was nothing like it. Normally she would keep her opinions to herself but the boys had been encouraging her to talk more, to practice her english.

"Baby born is not same," she said, looking down to concentrate on the cast.

"Oh yeah?," Merle asked, "how many babies have you seen getting popped out?" Anything she said wouldn't surprise him, he had gathered by now that she had an unusual upbringing. He figured she had seen a lot of animals being born at the very least.

"Many," she said. She had helped out family members before she had been married and she had assisted her husband with even more.

"Who you see give birth?," Toby asked. In his before life he had never seen anything close to birthing, but since he came here he had seen a baby horse born, a cat have kittens and seen the sheep and goats squeeze out tiny versions of themselves. One goat had three babies, and one of then had died. Toby had been upset, but Iva had seemed fine about it. Life and death were just another part of life on a farm and she had seen many worse things before. She thought about her answer.

"I see many baby born," she started, "I see mother have many baby. Sister of my mother."

"Aunt," Merle corrected her.

"Aunt, " she repeated getting used to the word, "I see wife of brother, and I see other wife of husband have two baby." Really she had seen a lot more than that, but that seemed enough to mention for now. Toby didnt understand the last part. Wife of husband made no sense to him, but Merle was quicker to pick up on it.

"You were married?," he asked her. She nodded. "Your husband had other wives?" She nodded again in confirmation. "How many?," he asked. Iva held up two fingers and snipped through the last of his cast. Seeing his own leg after all this time was exciting, but not enough to make him forget the subject at hand.

"You were married?," Toby asked in disbelief. Both men were looking at her with surprised expressions on their faces. It was making her feel bad, like they thought she was something wrong with her that would make her unacceptable to a man. Merle could see she was starting to get upset.

"No no no," he said, "you just seem very young to have been married." She let out her breath and gave him a grateful smile for explaining. Maybe english girls didn't get married until much later.

"I am a woman," she said firmly, "I bleed now many years."

"Are you talking about your rag Iva," Toby exclaimed with some noises of disgust, "don't nobody want to hear about that." This made everyone laugh especially Iva, who thought he was very silly to be grossed out over a normal and natural part of life. Merle was interested to hear more, he had heard people make the joke 'old enough to bleed, old enough to breed', but her had never met anyone who took it seriously as a way of life.

"How old were you when you got married?," he asked her.

"Ten and two," she answered after thinking about the right english number word.

"Twelve," he asked, hoping maybe she was just using the wrong words again.

"Yes," she said, "I have twelve years when I am wife to Zachary. First husband."

"You had more than one husband," Toby interjected. This story was getting interesting now. He couldn't imagine getting married at his age. Merle shushed him up, he wanted to hear what Iva was telling them and if she was interrupted too many times she might stop talking. He motioned for Iva to continue.

"I am married three years to Zachary," she said, "he was arts, dierenarts.. take care of sick animal, people."

"A doctor," Toby suggested.

"Yes," she said smiling, happy to be understood, "Zachary die. Then I am wife to brother of Zachary, Zeke." Merle could see her face twist up when she said the second man's name. So many of the things that seemed so curious about her were finally being explained. She must have learned her healing skills from the doctor husband. And he had guessed before, but now he was convinced, she had grown up in some sort of strange religious cult. Who else but crazy religious people got down on marrying twelve year olds.

"The second husband was Zeke?," he asked in a soft tone. She nodded. "Is that where you got the marks on your back?"

"I was bad wife," she said, staring down at her hands.

"Damn," Toby said. He was suddenly angry with this strange man he had never met. Anyone who would hurt his special and gentle friend deserved whatever they got. He hoped the man was dead. Toby kneeled down next to Iva and wrapped his arms around her. She hugged him back gratefully. "Its okay," Toby told her, "if we ever see him around here, I will stick a knife right in him." There was no reason to worry about him showing up, since he was long dead, but Iva appreciated the gesture anyway. Merle sat looking down at them with a smile. If anyone had told him a year ago that his favorite people in the world would be a nappy headed skinny little black kid and a former religious cult member who barely spoke english he would have thought that person was a total lunatic. Toby let Iva go and turned to examine Merle's newly revealed leg.

"Damn man," the boy exclaimed, "its even whiter than the rest of you."


	13. Chapter 13

The prison

Merle woke up early. Iva was still asleep, curled up next to him with her head on his chest. Her hair was mussed from sleeping and she was snoring softly. She was naked and he could feel the soft hair between her legs pressing against the outside of his thigh. Waking her up to do a little fooling around crossed his mind, but she looked so peaceful he decided to let her sleep.

He had been thinking more and more about finding his brother, which meant he was thinking about leaving. Months had passed and almost anything could have happened. He at least needed to find out if his brother was alive or dead but he didn't want to upset Iva by leaving. Not only that, but he needed and wanted her help. Right now he had no idea where he was, but if she could lead him back to the bridge where she found him, he could find the prison easily from there.

Once she figured out he wanted her to go with him, Iva had been more than happy to help. She had been worrying for a long while that the man she had grown so fond of would want to leave and go back to his own people. She knew he was looking for his brother and she completely understood. Iva had loved her brothers too, and if she thought there was a chance they were still alive, she would want to find them. Trouble ended up being Toby, who wasn't happy at all to be left behind to mind the animals while his friends went off on what he considered to be a big adventure.

There was also the issue of the colt. The young horse was getting bigger and stronger but he still needed his mother. Leaving him behind to make short runs like the cherry picking was fine, but they had no idea how long they would be gone. They could leave the horse behind and walk, but that meant a longer trip and though she didn't want to embarrass him by saying so, she was not so sure Merle could make it. His leg was much better, but he was still using a cane and taking it slow.

Toby had been easy. Merle had taken him aside for what he called a little man to man talk. This involved explaining to Toby what might happen if some men came and Iva was there alone. He also reminded the boy that he knew how to use a gun and Iva didn't. She hadn't been able to hear what they were saying but when they walked back over, Toby was determined to stay and keep the animals safe. With the colt, they eventually decided to just take the small horse with them. They could put a lead on him, and attach it to the saddle. He never wandered too far his mother anyway but the lead would keep him close even if he got spooked.

Iva packed the saddle bags on the horses with what seemed to Merle like about a shit ton of stuff. They planned not to be gone longer than overnight. Iva took an uncharacteristic long look at herself in the mirror and wished she had some clothes that actually fit her and not just the baggy oversize mens clothes that had come with the cabin. Toby and Merle were the first people outside the community she had grown up in that she had ever really met and she was nervous and excited to meet some more.

They geared up with their weapons and Toby got the gate for them. Iva caught his hand and gave it a little squeeze as they went out. Sandy the dog looked sad to be left out of the trip and gave them a long howl as they turned the corner out of sight. The noise gave Iva a queer feeling of foreboding and she felt gooseflesh rise up on her arms despite the heat of the day. She ignored her sudden fears and followed the purple trail marks since those were the ones they used to go hunting the day they found Merle. It didn't take long to find the bridge, most of which was laying around and in the creek in big chunks of broken concrete. Merle hadn't realized how close to death he had come and the bridge was a sobering sight.

From here he could orient himself and he reached around Iva, taking the reins and steering them towards the prison. Now he was starting to get worried. What if the prison had fallen? What if the governor had killed everyone and taken it over? And now a new set of worries crossed his mind. Even if the prison group had won against the governor, and they were there, a whole lot of them were pretty fucking pissed at him. Iva had no idea of anything that had gone on in woodbury or the kind of things he had done. What if she found out and then decided she didn't like him anymore. He had beat the shit out if that stupid Chinese kid, who had only partly deserved it. And he had tried to kill that black girl, who hadn't really done anything to him. Maybe the two of them are dead, he thought hopefully.

They came up on the front gates of the prison, and Merle was pleased to see it was still standing. He saw that idiot cop Rick out working in a garden, so that meant the governor had lost. And he noticed Karen down by the fence, stabbing biters, which meant woodbury had probably fallen. A huge black man he had never seen before was guarding the gate.

"Open up!," Merle told the man.

"Who are you," Tyreese questioned, looking at the man and woman on the packed up horse with the smaller horse following behind them. They made a curious group.

"I know Daryl," Merle said firmly, "open up there's fucking biters out here." Tyreese opened up the gate and shut it behind them. Iva stared openly at the man, he looked like Toby only bigger. Toby was the first black person she had ever seen and she had assumed it was some kind of abnormality, like being an albino horse, but she realized now many english must have dark skin like that. The big man noticed her looking and gave her a broad smile, she looked back down at her horse quickly. They rode in about halfway up the drive and then she felt Merle swing down off the horse. She took this as a signal to get down as well and then she saw a small group of people walking towards them that didn't look very happy. Merle motioned for her to stay there with the horse and he walked up to meet them.

Iva could hear them from where she was, especially since most of them were shouting. She could understand english but this many people yelling at once just sounded like one huge racket to her. Maybe they should leave. If these people were this angry with Merle, they may want to hurt him, or her, or her horses. She never knew english people were so rude and loud. No wonder the church elders had warned them about the English from the time they were children. The noise was upsetting the horses as well and they crowded in close to Iva for comfort. Now a man with black hair and a strange looking face was thrusting a gun into Merle's face and they were screaming at each other.

"Hi," said a voice from a feet away from the horses. Iva jumped at the noise and reached to get her hand onto the hilt of her knife. She relaxed a little when she saw it was just a young man about Toby's age. He had a mop of shaggy brown hair and a funny looking hat on that looked a little too big for him. He smiled at her and said hi again. Iva looked down and kicked at the dirt a little.

"Hi," she said back to him and favoring him with a small smile. At least not everyone here was mean and rude, she thought.

"Don't worry," the boy said, " here comes Hershel, he will make everyone stop yelling." Iva looked where the boy was pointing and saw a man with beard and white hair coming slowly down towards the group. The boy got closer and held out his hand.

"I'm Carl," he said, "Whats your name?"


	14. Chapter 14

Daryl

Beth was sitting on her bed holding the baby. She had her in her lap singing her a little song when she heard Daryl come in. She usually didn't mind who heard her sing but for some reason he made her feel self conscious. He plopped dump with a thump next to her and tickled Judith her her chin to make her giggle. Beth had seen him taking a little more interest in the baby since she had asked him to hold her that day, ha seemed happier too, well as far as she could tell. Really his mad face and his happy face looked about the same so it was hard to tell.

There wasn't much room on the small prison cot and he was sitting so close, Beth could feel his leg against hers. She knew Zach was technically her boyfriend. He hung around her making sure everyone else knew it, that was for sure. But when she lay down in her bed alone at night, lately she had found her thoughts drifting to Daryl more and more. Sometimes she even thought about him when Zach was kissing her, which made her feel like she was doing something really wrong even though she guessed there were people out there thinking about a lot worse things.

She glanced up to see her father was in the doorway of her cell, looking in on them and smiling. Hershel noticed everything. His favorite resting spot was in a folding chair against the wall between what served as the kitchen and where the cells were that served as peoples bedrooms. He thought of himself as the honorary father of the group, and liked to keep an eye on all his children. Lately he had noticed whenever Daryl was around, his younger daughter's eyes followed the man everywhere. Hershel knew he wasn't going to be around forever and be wanted to know his daughters would be safe and cared for. Maggie had Glen, who he approved of highly. But he was worried about Beth. That young man that had been showing interest in her seemed nice enough, but he wasn't Daryl, who Hershel regarded with great respect. So far the man seemed completely oblivious to his daughter's interest and Hershel was torn between trying to help the situation along and letting the kids work it out for themselves. While he wasn't especially happy to see the man was sitting on Beth's bed, he was happy to see them spending time together.

Hershel opened his mouth to ask how the baby was doing when suddenly they could hear a huge loud raucous coming from outside. Daryl swore he could hear someone out there screaming his name. He leaped up and grabbed his bow from the doorway where he had left it and took off at high speed for outside. What he saw when he got there shocked him. It was his brother. Merle was screaming and Glen, Glen was screaming at Merle and pointing a gun at him. Maggie was screaming at Glen and Rick was screaming at all of them. Some other people were standing around gawking at the scene including Michonne, who had her sword out watching for Merle to make a move. Daryl ran down there, and shoved in between Merle and Glen, pushing them apart. Then he turned to his brother and they starting yelling at each other. One voice suddenly came up louder, drowning everyone else out.

"STOP IT RIGHT NOW! ALL OF YOU STOP!," Hershel had made it down the drive and was yelling at all of them. He turned and sent Glen and Maggie inside. Glen turned to throw Merle one more hateful look and Merle held up his middle finger for the man's enjoyment. Maggie grabbed ahold of her husband and walked him forcefully all the way back inside. Daryl backed off a little and took a few deep breaths. He noticed a few unfamiliar horses standing further down the drive. A girl was clinging to the neck of one of them looking horrified by the show. Carl was standing a few feet away talking to her. Daryl felt himself getting angry again, wasn't it just like Merle to disappear without a word and show back up once the fighting was done. The fight he had fucking started. And where had he been, not dead or captured as Daryl had feared, but getting his damn rocks off with some girl who looked about twenty years too young for him.

"Where in tha fuck have you been?," Daryl demanded. Merle pulled up his pant leg and showed the nasty scar that was left from him almost losing his leg. Hershel got closer and took a look. The leg looked like it had been badly broken. He could see that Merle was walking and standing on the leg, so someone with some skill must have patched him up.

"Looks like it was a bad break," Hershel said to the man. Merle nodded. "Who fixed you up?," he asked and was surprised when Merle pointed over to the horses. Hershel saw there was a pretty young woman standing there talking quietly to Carl and watching them. Daryl gave a loud little huff noise which Merle knew meant his brother thought he was full of bullshit.

"You can fucking ask her if you don't believe me," Merle shouted at his brother. He knew what his brother was thinking and while he had been fucking the girl, that didn't mean he was lying about her fixing his leg. "Come on then," He added in a calmer tone and began walking towards Iva. She saw him coming followed by the older man and two of the others that had been screaming at him. Iva was scared and not so sure she wanted to meet these loud angry men. She grabbed the reins of her horse and began backing down the driveway away from them. She saw Merle say something to the other men and then they stayed where they were and he came towards her by himself. She stopped and waited for him to get closer then threw her arms around him and buried her face in his chest.

Daryl couldn't hear them, but he saw the girl hug his brother and he could tell his brother was trying to coax her and she was resisting. Honestly he felt a little bad for her, whatever they were mad at Merle about, didn't have anything to do with her and she looked petrified and ready to bolt. Daryl walked over towards them. He saw Merle take the girl by the hand and lead her in his directions. She was holding onto Merle's one good hand with both of hers and trying to do her best to stay partly behind him. Daryl thought the shy way she was acting was cute, though he would have never admitted it to anyone. He guessed she was about Beth's age only taller and much curvier. She had on a pair of mens work pants that looked at least 4 sizes too big and her top looked like two or three bandannas that were sewed together. Her hair was dark blonde and wavy and hung down almost to her waist. Altogether there was no denying she was an attractive woman. She had a sizable knife strapped to one leg and a bow over her shoulder. She eyed him suspiciously as his brother urged her forward.

"This is Iva," he said to Daryl, then turning to the girl he said, "honey, this is my brother Daryl. The one I tole you about." She stayed where she was but looked a Daryl and smiled. Shoot me now, he thought, shes even prettier when she smiles. She got a good look at the man without being too obvious about it. Now she could see the resemblance between him and Merle. They looked a little alike in the face but mostly they had the same body shape and moved and stood the same way. The girl leaned in and said something quietly into Merle's ear that Daryl couldn't hear. His brother started laughing.

"Well go on and get it then," he said to the girl swatting her lightly on the behind as she headed for the horse. By this time Hershel, Rick and Carl had approached and were standing near Daryl. She walked back over to the big horse and started digging through one of the saddlebags.

"What's she doing," Daryl asked. His brother laughed again.

"She said she brought you a present," he said to Daryl giving him a mocking look.

"What the hell did she bring me something for?," Daryl asked, "I never met her before in my life."

"Got no idea little brother," Merle replied, "this is the first she said to me about it." Iva walked back and Carl introduced her to Hershel and his dad. She nodded to acknowledge both men but made no move to shake their hands or get close to them. She had a medium sized bundle in her hands, tied up in part of an old bed sheet, that must be the much anticipated present. She took a deep breath. Iva knew her english wasn't very good and it embarrassed her not being able to talk properly. The way all the men were looking at her now made her feel maybe bringing the gift had not been appropriate after all. Where she grew up, it was customary to bring a gift when you were visiting someone at their home. She had asked Toby if this was something english people did and he had told her it couldn't hurt. Plus if they found Merle's brother she really wanted him to like her.

"My people..," she stammered, holding the package, "good manners to bring gift when visit person in that person home." This was the first thing most of then had heard her say and Hershel realized right away that english was not her first language. Her accent sounded Dutch and he wondered if she was Amish, though most Amish people spoke english.

"It is good manners to bring a gift when you visit someone," Hershel said kindly. Then he elbowed Daryl hard.

"Oh yeah," Daryl spat out, "thanks." He reached for the bundle and she stepped forward to hand it to him, then stepped back quickly and grabbed for Merle's hand. Carl was leaning in, telling Daryl to open it, open it, open it. So Daryl opened it. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting but this was probably the best present he ever got. Inside the bundle was a large loaf of freshly baked bread, a big hunk of cheese that was wrapped in wax paper, and a half pint jar of dark purple jam.

"Blackberry," the girl informed him shyly, " Merle like so maybe you like too."

"Wow," Daryl said more sincerely this time, "thanks a lot, I do like it." Carl was leaning in now, poking at the items and Daryl was swatting him away.

"Is that cheese," Carl asked, "I haven't had cheese since before I saw a walker." Hershel and Rick were interested in the package as well, mostly in where she had gotten those items. Where there was cheese, there had to be farm animals, and farm animals were what they needed to make it here long term. Merle just stood there with a self satisfied grin watching all their faces. Hershel turned to the man.

"I think I have a few things I would like to discuss with you," he said.


	15. Chapter 15

Hershel and Beth

Merle had only been worried about finding his brother. He hadn't thought a lot about Iva's animals or that the people here might want them. As soon as they all saw that cheese she brought, there was no unfucking that whore. The cat was out of the bag, as they say. He was cursing himself for not seeing what the possible consequences of bringing her here might be. Really he had been thinking of himself like he always did. He hadn't wanted to leave her back at their camp because then he would have to worry about her, and he had also wanted to show her off to his brother and gloat. Now he knew there was no way these people were going to let him just take off with Daryl and not come back.

Hershel immediately saw the possibilites of this. Daryl's brother coming back might end up being the best thing that happened for them. The situation was going to have to be handled carefully though. If Rick started in on these people in his usual way, they might just take off on that horse and not ever come back. The girl herself was worth a lot to the group, if what Merle had said about her healing his leg was true. And she had handed Daryl jam that she had obviously preserved from last fall, when blackberries were in season, which meant not only that she knew how to preserve food but that she had enough of it that there was still jam left from almost eight months ago. Plus the cheese, which meant she not only had milking goats, but that she knew how to take care of them and how to make and preserve cheese. Hershel knew a little himself, and the type of cheese it was, it had probably been aged six months. Good god it was enough to make his head spin. He stood there thinking of what the right thing to say was, but Carl spoke first.

"Where did you get that cheese," he asked. By this time Daryl had ripped off a few pieces and was passing it around. He was thinking he would save the bread and jam for later and pig out on it alone in his cell.

"Iva make," she replied. She had no idea what was going on but she was standing close to Merle and had felt his body tense up. Everyone seemed excited about her gift and she was glad now that she brought it. Merle's brother offered her a piece but she shook her head. She had plenty more back at the cabin and these people didn't seem to have any so she felt it would be wrong to take some. Carl also hadn't grasped what was going on, he had no idea that you could make cheese. The only kind he had ever had was the stuff in the plastic wrappers from the grocery store.

"How do you make cheese?," he asked. Iva thought about it, she had always just done it but had never tried to explain it to someone.

"Have to milk goat or sheep first," she replied, "then get four jar full..." The boy was listening with much interest until his dad quickly interjected.

"How many goats do you have?," Rick asked, tilting his head slightly forward. Before she could anwser, Merle shouted at the man.

"None of your fucking business, thats how many." Carl and Iva jumped a little, the sudden venom of his tone seemed out of place when they were just making pleasant conversation. Merle took a tighter hold of Iva's hand and pulled her back down towards the horses. Hershel let out a loud sigh. This was not going well. Daryl sighed as well and cast a dirty look towards Rick that Rick didn't see. Rick could have just let him deal with this, it was his damn brother after all. And now Merle was going to get all Merley and refuse to tell them anything. Daryl handed his bundle to Carl.

"Put that in my room, you hear," he told the boy and started after his brother. When he got within earshot he could hear his brother talking to the girl. She obviously had not understood what was going on.

"Don't tell any of them shit, understand," he said, "they were asking about your animals 'cause they want to come and take them." The girl was turning pale and looking towards her horses with much concern. She didn't want anyone to take her horse, she needed her. Without her horse, she couldn't get the deer they hunted back to the cabin. She used the horse to get around as well, like when they went to pick the berries, or when her and Toby had hooked up the wagon and went to a big box store to stock up on economy size bags of flour and sugar. Now tears were starting to well up in her eyes. What kind of place had Merle brought her. These people were terrible, horrible, awful people. She didn't like it here one bit, where people screamed and waved guns in other peoples faces and took things that didn't belong to them.

"Iva go home now," she announced. She stomped over to her horse and closed the saddle bag back up, and made sure the saddle was tight. Not one more minute was she staying here, she knew her way home and if Merle wanted to stay here with these stupid english he could knock himself out.

"What the hell," Daryl said to his brother, pointing emphatically towards the young woman who looked scared out of her wits again, "what tha fuck you say to her man?"

"Just the fucking truth," Merle anwsered. Really he had just wanted to make sure Iva knew not to say anymore about her animals or tell them where the cabin was. He had not meant to work her up into a tizzy over her precious horse. He shrugged a little and then admitted, "now she thinks someone is going to take her horse." Daryl walked over, approaching the girl slowly. Iva saw him coming and whipped out the big knife she kept in the sheath on her side. Great, Daryl thought, we went from a smile and a present to I'm going to cut your fucking eyes out in about thirty fucking seconds. Way to go Rick and Merle, you both get the dumb asshole of the day award. He put his hands up and took a few more slow steps towards her.

"Hey, its ok. Nobody here is going to take your horse," he said to the girl. She looked skeptical. Thats not the story she just heard from Merle. Hershel also saw what was going on and walked over to try and help.

"Iva," he said in a calming voice, "no one will hurt your horses or try to take them. You have my word." She put her knife back in its holder and looked at Merle. He nodded that it was alright. "If you like," Hershel continued, "you can take the bags and saddle off and let them graze. Tyreese can keep and eye on them for you." She had been thinking that her horses looked hot and tired. And from the way Hershel glanced his way, she assumed Tyreese was the large dark skinned man that was standing by the gate. He had just been standing there quietly watching this whole situation play out. Hershel waved his hand at Tyreese, signaling him to come closer. "Tyreese," he asked when the man was close enough for him not to have to raise his voice, "could you keep an eye on Iva's horses and make sure no one gets close to them?" Tyreese nodded. Of course he would watch the horses.

"Do you think I could pet the baby one," he asked Iva with a big smile. He looked like Toby so Iva liked him right away. Plus, he had a very nice smile. Iva nodded and reached for his hand. She walked him over to the frisky colt and held his hand near so the horse could get a good whiff of the man's scent mixed with hers. Then she let go.

"Now can pet," she declared. And she was right. After getting a sniff of his hand the little horse came right to him. She reached into one of the bags attached to the big horse and handed Tyreese a carrot. He broke off a piece and fed it to the colt. Now the horse really liked him, maybe a little to much. It was prancing around the big man now butting into him with its head. Iva lauged and unpacked her horse and took off her saddle. She got a soft cloth out and wiped her down where she was sweaty. Merle walked back over and whistled for the colt. He had not liked the big man petting the horse and he had especially not liked the man talking and laughing with his woman. Hershel took this opportunity to make his move.

"Now that the animals are safe," Hershel told them both, "I would like to talk to you both inside." Merle nodded and Iva took her small back pack out of one of the saddlebags and followed the men inside. The place these english lived was strange. It looked like it was full of cages. Iva wondered if this is how all english lived or if they were only staying here to keep safe from the kwade. She also noticed there seemed to be a lot of people here and not nearly enough gardens to feed them all. It dawned on her that maybe thats why they had been so interested in her animals. If her people were starving, she might be willing to steal an animal too. What she didn't understand is why they weren't growing more food. They had a huge area with full sun, bigger than the area she had but they only seemed to be using a tiny section of it for plants. Maybe they didn't have any seeds, she had boatloads of seeds she could give them, but she was afraid to offer up anything after what happened earlier.

They walked through into another section of the prison where Iva spotted a pretty young girl holding a baby. It had been so long since she had seen a baby. Iva smiled at the girl and the girl smiled back. Then the baby smiled and reached for Iva. Judith had developed a penchant for pulling hair lately and this new girl had a LOT of it. Iva reached down and stroked her tiny baby hand, her hair falling forward and into Judith's reach. She grabbed as much of it as she could hold and pulled as hard as she could, squealing in delight.

"I'm so sorry," Beth said, grasping the naughty baby by the wrist and trying to open her hand without pulling any of this girl's hair out.

"Is okay," Iva said, "had brother when baby he like pull hair too." Beth noticed the girl had a stange accent and was wearing clothes that clearly didn't fit her and no bra. Hershel stepped in to introduce them.

"Beth, this is Iva," he said, "Iva, this is my daughter Beth."

"And this is Judith," Beth added. "Are you the one that showed up with Daryl's brother?" As soon as it came out she knew it was a stupid quesiton, Daryl's brother was standing right there looking at her, obviously she was the girl who came with him. The girl just nodded. Hershel suddenly had an idea.

"I need to talk to Merle about some things that don't conern Iva," he said with a pointed glance in Merle's direction, "would you mind showing Iva around until we are done?" Iva looked a little panicked. Beth seemed nice but she wasn't sure she wanted to be left alone with her. Merle thought about all the things they were going to ask him about and figured this might be a good solution.

"Its alright," he said to Iva, "I won't be gone long." He gave her a quick kiss and then he and Hershel walked away. Iva stood there watching until they turned the corner out of sight with a sad and scared look on her face. Beth felt for her, she wouldn't want to be left alone in a strange place with people she didn't know, even before the turn. She smiled at the girl, who was looking completely miserable. All of a sudden, Beth had an idea. She hoped it wouldn't insult the girl, but thought she would try anyway.

"I don't mean to be rude," Beth said, "but I can see your clothes don't really fit." Iva looked down at herself shamefully. She knew she didn't look very good but she had nothing else to wear. Beth quickly added, "We have tons and tons of extra clothes. I could take you to where we keep them and maybe you could find some clothes that fit." Now the girl looked excited. The english were her people now and she wanted to fit in. She was also in desperate need of some shoes that fit.

When they got down to the storage area where the kept the extra clothes, Carol was down there trying to organize the mess. Food and water they were always lacking, but extra clothes and shoes they had in spades. Between the two women they had Iva fixed up in no time. Beth had to admit she was jealous of the other girl's curves, especially her ample breasts. Everything she put on just looked great on her, it was like dressing a real life Barbie doll. The shoes had been the only problem, Iva had huge feet. Most of the women's shoes were much too small for her, then Carol remebered a pair of boots that were under a pile of jeans in the corner. Red cowboy boots, they were too big for all the girls and none of the guys wanted them because they were red. They were a perfect fit and Carol saw the girl's eyes light up when she put them on. Then she gave her some mens running shoes as a backup.

When the ladies got done with her, Iva had a bra on, her first. She was very impressed with it and had made a big show of jumping around the room to see how good it worked, making the other girls laugh. The red cowboy boots were on her feet, with fresh socks. She was also rocking a pair of jeans that Beth thought looked amazing and Carol thought were a little too tight, a red tank top to match the boots and a western style button down shirt that was plaid with white trim. The girls had given her some more things to take with her. Iva was so happy she thought she might bust. She hugged both women tightly and said,

"Iva not have woman friend in long time. Iva so happy to come here." Hearing her simple and heartfelt declaration made Beth and Carol feel good. Carol wouldn't admit it but it almost brought tears to her eyes. All they had done was give the girl some clothes.

"Come on now," Beth said, "lets go find the guys before they think we got ate up."


	16. Chapter 16

*****Thank you to everyone for the reviews, I am glad people are reading and enjoying my story. Remember its rated M for a reason. I own nothing from the Walking Dead.*****

The prison

Merle had been expecting the worst, but questions they had asked him had not been that bad. The old man, Hershel, had confirmed his whole broken leg story so they had really just wanted to know if he had seen the governor; he hadn't, and did he know where the governor was; he didn't. Then Karen and his brother had filled him in in what had happened while he had been gone. The prison group had run the governor's people off, which Merle found impressive even though he didn't say that, and when his people had refused to go back and fight, the governor had gunned them down. Most of them had been idiots anyway, but Merle had lived with them for the better part of a year and he had been friendly with some of them. He was sad to hear about Andrea and Milton, especially Andrea. She had turned out to be an alright chick and she had a great rack, it was really too bad she was dead.

Iva was sitting in the common room with Beth and Carol when Merle came back looking for her. He walked past her three times without even realizing who she was. It wasn't until he heard all three of them laughing that he turned and saw her. He had only seen her so far in dirty baggy clothes and she made those look good so to see her all dressed up in clothes that fit was really something. Her jeans were tight and hugged her curves and it looked like one of the girls had braided her hair for her. She rushed into his arms, kissing him and pressing her cheek to his. Merle liked holding and kissing her, but he wasn't sure how he liked it here in front of all these people. Making him look soft is what it was doing.

Iva didn't care who was looking, she was just happy that the liked her new clothes, which she could tell he did by the way he had been looking her body up and down. She looked like a proper english woman now and unless they heard her talk, no one would know anymore that she didn't belong. Iva was very grateful to the girls. Her people were all dead, she had no people and no where anymore that she fit in. She wished she had something she could give then in return. Then she heard Merle's stomach start to growl and it gave her an idea.

"Iva make dinner," she said to the women. Carol nodded, they didn't have much but the girl could help her make it if she wanted.

"Let me see if I can find something we can make," Carol said, standing up.

"No," the girl said to her, "Iva bring Iva make." Carol looked at her skeptically.

"Are you sure you have enough?," she asked. For some reason this sent Merle off on a tirade of laughter. Did she have enough, she packed enough food to feed a whole fucking army, he was pretty sure there was enough to feed four people.

"Trust me," he told Carol assuredly, "we have enough."

"Can I bring my dad then?," Beth asked hopefully. Iva nodded. Of course Beth could bring her dad, he seemed very sweet and gentle. He reminded Iva of her first husband and he had been very kind about her horses. She would be happy to make something for him. Merle looked Beth up and down with a devilish grin.

"Bring your dad," he told her, "and while you're at it, why don't you invite your sister and her pet zipperhead." Beth felt the giggle come out before she could stop it. Now she was shocked. At him for saying that, but also at herself for laughing. She wasn't exactly sure what a zipperhead was but given the context she was pretty sure it was a derogatory word for an Asian person. Iva turned to Merle.

"What is zipperhead?," she asked innocently. He said it was a pet so she assumed it was some kind of animal. And Iva loved animals. This of course was even funnier and Merle suggested to her that the best person to ask about that was Beth's sister. Carol had heard enough. She out her hand gently on Iva's shoulder.

"Its a very rude word that you shouldn't be repeating," she told the girl. Then she gave Merle a very dirty look. Here this poor girl was, just trying her hardest to learn to speak english and he was teaching her things like that. She didn't know why she was even surprised. He didn't seem to care, he gave Carol a big evil grin to let her know that. He was a grown man and he would say whatever he liked, and that included calling a zipperhead a zipperhead. He was suprised Carol had the guts to even say anything. He was going to have to keep an eye on that old bitch, she had gotten a lot ballsier since he saw her last, mouthier and smarter too.

Carol led Iva outside to the cooking area and showed her the pots and and she could use and where the clean water was. Iva went down to retrieve some things out of her saddlebags and came back with a very lumpy looking pillow case. She got some water going in the biggest pot she could find and began taking ziplock bags out of the pillowcase and dumping their contents into the pot. Carol looked on with interest. It looked like all dried food. She put in onions, celery, sundried tomatoes, lots of different colored peppers, the entire contents of a bag of red powder, less out of some other bags, which Carol guessed were spices. And then she got out a huge bag of dried meat and used a knife to cut the strips up into smaller pieces. Merle came over and grabbed a large piece for himself and walked away gnawing on it. She threw all the meat in and then grabbed some salt and pepper from where they kept it under the counter and threw some of that in too.. Carol watched her closely, wondering where the girl got all this food. She hadn't seen real vegetables since they had been on Hershel's farm. It looked like the makings for chili and Carol had an idea.

She ran inside and came out with a large can of kidney beans. She held them up for Iva's approval and the girl smiled big and gestured for her to throw them in too. How did the woman know she had just been thinking she wished she had some beans. Once she drained them, Carol dumped in the beans and Iva brought the whole mess up to a boil and then put the lid on and turned the heat off.

"Need sit. Half hour," the girl informed everyone. Iva noticed there were a few kids hanging around the outside of the cooking area, staring at her. There was a tall skinny looking boy with glasses that she guessed was just a little younger than her and a pretty young smiling blonde girl who looked about ten

"Meeka, Patrick," Carol asked, "Did the two of you need something?" They stood there stammering a minute. "Either say want you want or get out of here," Carol added. Iva was surprised at how harsh the woman's tone was. She had been very nice the whole time she was talking to Iva.

"We wanted to pet the horses," Meeka finally spit out, "but Tyreese and Sasha yelled at us. They said we had to ask her." She pointed at Iva. Iva smiled, she was glad the big man had been keeping his promise and watched her horses carefully. She didn't mind if the kids got close but she would rather she was with them if they wanted to touch or pet the horses. The colt was still a baby, and all mothers could be protective of their babies, even horses.

"You want pet horse?," Iva asked the girl. Meeka wrinkled up her nose, the woman had a funny sounding voice. She really did want to see the horses though, no matter how weird their owner talked. She nodded her head vigourously. Iva walked over and took the young girl's hand. Carol smiled, she guessed Iva was a little young to have had children of her own but she must have had some younger siblings. On their way over to where the horses were grazing, Iva saw Tyreese and gave him a friendly wave. He smiled big and walked over to join them. He had another woman with him that had dark skin like his. Iva guessed maybe it was his wife or sister.

Tyreese and Sasha looked on while Iva showed the kids how to pet her horses and where it was okay to touch them. She also explained in very broken english that they should never come so close when she wasn't around because the mother horse might think they were trying to hurt her baby. Horses didn't have claws, but they had hard hooves and a big mouthful of teeth which they were not afraid to use. Iva unbuttoned the top of her shirt and pulled the shoulder down to show the girl where she had been bitten once by a very naughty horse that she had been trying to train. Patrick had gotten his few pets in and quickly grown bored and wandered off back inside the prison. Meeka was still petting and stroking the horse and Iva could see how much the girl liked the animals.

"You want ride horse?," Iva asked the girl.

"Really?," the girl replied with wonder, "could I?" Iva smiled. When she had been that age she had loved animals too and was not above sleeping out in the barn with them if her mother didn't yell and make her come inside.

"First ride Iva ride with you," the woman suggested. The girl nodded with a big smile and watched as the woman grabbed the mane and pulled herself up onto the horse with one fluid motion. Meeka was impressed and she wasn't the only one. Tyreese had noticed the woman as soon as she showed up. Most girls that pretty were shallow and mean. He had dated his share of attactive girls when he had been a big football star in college. Most of them were full of themselves and some had barely been able to hold a conversation. He liked this girl and her shy quiet way, and he liked to see that she had a lot of genuine concern for her animals. It also didn't hurt that she was now wearing clean well fitting clothes that showed off her womanly shape. Tyreese approached and lifted Meeka up onto the horse in front of Iva.

Sasha wasn't stupid. She saw the way her brother was looking at this girl and she was not impressed. From what she had seen, it was clear the girl was spoken for and not just by anyone, by a man that she had heard a lot of terrible things about. Tyreese wasn't going to listen to her, so she just sighed and hoped he wouldn't get his feelings hurt too badly. She couldn't really blame him, the girl was very pretty and seemed like a sweetheart to boot. Iva was guiding the horse slowly around the yard. She had taken the saddle and reins off so she held onto the mane and used her thighs to guide the horse.

Meeka had the biggest grin Carol had ever seen plastered on her face when they trotted past and the woman couldn't help laughing. Iva thought she would give the girl a real ride and leaned forward signally the horse to go faster. They galloped back to were the colt was waiting, butting his head under Tyreese's arm and trying to get the man to scratch him on some of his itchy places. Iva swung down and then helped the young girl off. Meeka leaned in and hugged her tightly. That had been the most fun she had in a long long time. She ran off to find her sister and tell her all about it. Iva saw Tyreese looking in her direction and assumed he was looking at the horse.

"You like ride?," she asked him. He looked a the horse then at himself and laughed.

"I think the horse could ride me as easily as I could ride her," he exclaimed. Iva looked at the size of the man and started laughing too. Maybe he was a little big for horse riding. Sasha laughed too, the thought of her brother on a horse was a ridiculous mental image. He would be better off riding an elephant.

The food smelled amazing and they all sat down at a couple of picnic tables to eat. The group ended up being Iva, Merle, Merle's brother of course, Carol, Beth and her dad, and Tyreese and his sister. Iva had invited them to thank them for watching the horses. Merle was none too pleased about it either but he didn't want to say anything since she had just been being nice and in the end, the man had done a good job watching the horses. Carol made sure everyone got a full bowl and then called the kids over and served them up the rest. They ate like a pack of wolves, standing in the kitchen area and then skittering off like rats, leaving their dirty bowls in a jumble on the counter.

Hershel was sitting at the next table but near to Iva and when he sat his pantleg rose up and she saw his artificial leg. He saw the young woman looking at it with some interest and hiked his pants up further.

"Got bit," Hershel explained to her.

"End of leg have much pain?," she asked, "where it heal?"

"Yes it does sometimes hurt," he told her, "and it itches like crazy." He wondered where this line of questioning was going and then remembered she had some skill at doctoring. She started to try and explain that she had a salve that might help when Merle interupted through a mouthful of food.

"That cream shes got aint no joke," he said to Hershel, "makes you smell like a girl but my shit don't itch or hurt or burn or nothing no more." He held up his arm peice to make sure the man knew he was talking about his stump. Hershel was curious. He asked the girl what she put in the salve. If it could help to heal badly scarred skin, it might be good for burns or countless other types of ailments. Hershel knew lot about medicine, but he had always just used prescriptions or over the counter medications to heal. Since the turn, he had often wished he knew more about herbs and traditional medicines. Iva knew she put coconut oil and beeswax in the balm, because Toby had told her the english names for those items, but other than that, she only knew she used herbs that she grew, and she only knew the names for those in her regional Dutch.

"Maybe," Hershel suggested, "you could show me the plants you use sometime and I could tell you what they are called." Iva nodded. She would like that. In the meantime, she would give him the jar of salve. She could always make some more for Merle when she got back to her cabin.

After diner, she and Merle checked on the horses. He noticed Iva was yawning and rubbing her eyes. It had been a long day for both of them, but even more for her, since she had been up extra early to check on all her animals before they left so Toby wouldn't have too much to do. He put his arm around the woman and let her know they could stay in Daryl's room for tonight. She was nervous about staying away overnight, but it was really too late now to try and start back. Plus she was really tired.

The cell was small and contained a small table, one chair and a bunk bed. She knew it was the right room since she had left the extra clothes the girls had given her in there earlier. They put the saddlebags and their weapons down in the far corner. Next thing he knew, Iva was in his arms, holding tightly to him. She tipped her chin up and kissed him softly on the lips.

"Thought you were tired?," Merle asked her. She didn't say anything, just pulled the man closer and kissed him again. They were used to having much more privacy, and while Merle finding his brother and Iva meeting some new friends had been nice, sometimes new lovers wanted to be alone. Merle was a little surprised, Iva ususally waited for him to come to her. He wasn't going to complain about it though, thats for sure. He slipped his hand down and gave her ass a firm squeeze through the tight jeans. She was unbuttoning her shirt, and when she slipped it off and pulled the tank top over her head, she started on his clothes. He had never seen her in a bra before and this one was nothing special, just a plain black one, but seeing her tits all pushed up and squeezed together was really doing a number on him.

He pulled her towards the bed, walking backwards and keeping his mouth on hers. She was unzipping his pants, fumbling with his belt, trying to get to what she knew was inside. He pulled her down onto the bed and rolled her onto her back. Her nipples were hard, poking into the fabric of the bra, which he pushed down so he could suck on one while he rolled the other one between his thumb and forefinger. She had her hand in his pants now, touching him and stroking gently up and down the length of him. He felt her hand disappear and she was unzipping her pants, pushing them down and kicking off her new boots. She had underwear on to which she went to push off but he grabbed her hand and stoppped her.

"Leave those for a minute," he murmured into her neck. It was a little funny to find a girl wearing underwear to be so sexy, but he had never seen her wear any before. He rubbed her through the thin material and she tried to push them down again but he held her wrist gently to stop her. She was cute when she got all wiggly and impatient about it. He slid down and breathed on her through the panties, satisfied to hear an audible moan in response. Pulling the fabric aside, he flicked his tounge quickly across her little hot spot. Enough games, he thought and pulled down on her underwear, she lifted up a little and helped him, pushing them off with her feet. He leaned back in and got another taste of her, sliding his thumb inside her to wet it and then sliding the tip of it inside her ass. She remembered how shocked she had been the first time he had kissed her _down there _and how she had been embarrassed about how much she liked it. Well she wasn't embarrassed now. He had told her all girls liked it, and she had been jealous of all those english girls, where his mouth had been before her.

He knew she was close now, her legs were shaking and she had her head thrown back, griping the bars of the bed behind her head. Pushing his pants down but not bothering to take them off, he moved back up and kissed her, then used his hand to guide himself inside. She gasped a little, she usually did when he first pushed in. He liked the noise, it was unique to Iva. She always sounded surprised, like she didn't know what was about to happen. They were really going at it now. Her legs were wrapped around his waist and she was digging into his back a little, which he knew by now meant she was about to orgasm. And thats when his brother walked in.

"Oh HELL NO," he shouted, "Come on man thats MY bed." Merle just laughed and kept right on with what he was doing. Iva covered her face with her hands.

"Just thought somebody should be getting laid in it little brother," Merle quipped. Daryl turned around and stormed out. So gross. Couldn't they just go out in the guard tower like everyone else. And if he had to see that shit, couldn't she have at least been on top so he could have seen a little tit. No all he got to see was his brother's big white ass. Going out for a smoke is what he was doing. And when he got back, they better be done.


	17. Chapter 17

Saving Sandy

The smell of the dead was all around. Their rotting bodies swirled around like waves in rocky water. Pushing in, threatening to drown her they moaned and hissed. She could hear Toby screaming. Sandy was barking and yelping as they tore at her fur. The goats were running wild in a frightened herd. They looked like a big school of fish. Everything was like a rolling boiling pot of water and suddenly it all went silent. She heard her husband's voice. _Toby needs you Iva. Wake up. Go now. Run._

Iva woke up drenched in sweat but covered in gooseflesh. She didn't know where she was at first, then she remembered they were at the prison. Merle turned toward her and patted her back.

"Just a nightmare," he said in a soft sleepy voice, "be alright." Iva knew it was not going to be alright. She had to get out of here now. As quietly as she could she slipped her boots and pants on and grabbed her bow and arrows. She strapped on her knife and walked quickly out to where her horses were. Grabbing the saddle from where she left it, she whistled for her horse. Her hands were shaking as she pulled the leather straps and made sure they were good and tight. This was going to be a hard ride. Now she needed to figure out how to get out of the gate. She felt a sharp tap on the shoulder which startled her. It was the boy she had talked to yesterday.

"I will help you get out the gate if you take me with you," he said. He didn't know where the girl was going in such a hurry but it looked exciting. And he knew his dad really wanted to know where her camp was and how many people were there. Maybe he could find out. Carl felt it was just to good of luck that he happened to be taking a piss out here when she came dashing out and he wasn't going to let the opportunity go to waste. Iva had no time to argue and she nodded at the boy.

As they walked down to the gate, she thought about tying the colt to the saddle as she had done yesterday, but felt that might slow her down. He would have to follow at his own pace and hopefully he could keep up. Carl opened the gate as quietly as he could. They didn't want to get caught but they didn't want the walkers to hear them either. Iva mounted her horse and passed though the opening. Carl came through and shut the gate behind him, locking it back up. He wasn't sure how he would get on the horse when Iva reached for him and pulled him up in front of her. She was stronger than she looked. They got lucky that Glen and Maggie were on watch. All they ever did was fuck and never watched for anything. Carl felt a little bad that Glen was probably going to get in some trouble for this.

Iva held on tight to Carl and kicked her heels in, leaning forward. They were going much faster than Carl had expected. This was not the leisure ride he had seen her give Meeka yesterday. The ride was scary but thrilling, it was almost like being on a roller coaster. Carl wondered why she was running away in such a hurry, Daryl's brother wasn't with her so maybe she was running away from him. If the man was hurting her, he would tell his dad and Carol. Maybe they could make him stop.

Once they got to the bridge, there was enough light for Iva to see the trail markers and she checked to make sure the colt was still there. He was. The set off between the trees at a slightly less furious pace now, Iva didn't want her horse to trip on anything in the woods. As they got close, Carl thought he could hear some yelling, and another noise. It sounded like barking. Iva slid down off the horse and started running. She was quick too, Carl thought she looked like a track star.

She saw them as soon as she turned the corner to get to the gate. A huge pack of kwade. They had ahold of Sandy through the fence. It would be hard to explain the sounds the dog was making, it sounded like she was screaming. Toby was hitting at their hands, screaming and tying to make them let go. He was afraid to shoot them for fear he might hit the dog but if he didn't do something soon, she was going to die anyway and they were going to tear the fence down. Iva notched an arrow in her bow and started firing. One kwade after another fell until she had no more arrows left. Toby had grabbed his knife by this time and was stabbing them through the fence. Iva got her knife out and headed towards the last of them. She turned and saw Carl next to her, holding a sturdy looking branch.

"I will knock them down and you stab them," he said to the girl. She nodded and they headed in. There were about six left and together they made short work of them. Toby pried their hands off the dog and she ran off like a rocket. Well if she could run that fast, Iva thought, she couldn't be hurt too bad. There were a lot of dead piled up against the gate, but they managed to get it open far enough for the horses to get through. Iva reached for Toby and hugged him tight. She never should have left. Carl looked around, he kept expecting more people to come out but nobody came. Toby had tears in his eyes and he pulled up his shirt to mop them up. Then he held out a friendly hand to Carl.

"Thanks," he said, "I'm Toby." Carl shook the boys hand and took a better look at him. He was pretty disheveled from the fight and his clothes were torn. The boy hard dark skin and a crazy looking matted mass of hair. He was a little taller than Carl and had a more slender build. His eyes were kind and Carl could see how much he cared for Iva when he looked at her. They hugged again and Iva took off whistling and calling for the dog.

"Hey Iva," Toby called after her, "wheres Merle?"


	18. Chapter 18

Merle

Merle woke up to the sound people yelling. Then the curtain to Daryl's cell was thrown back and he heard his brother's voice.

"See I told you, he's right fucking here," Daryl screamed. Then to Merle he said, "You better get up."

"What in the hell is going on now?," Merle demanded. Maggie leaned in and answered.

"The horses are gone." Merle was up and looking around instantly. The saddlebags were still here, and so were most of Iva's things. But her bow and knife were gone. And so was she.

Maggie and Glen had been on watch. They had fallen asleep and when they woke up, the horses were gone. No one had seen or heard anything. Now everyone was shouting. Merle was getting geared up and ready to leave. Rick came running in from outside with Beth hot on his heels.

"Carl's gone," he said, "we can't find him anywhere."

"Well thats how she got out," Daryl concluded as though this should be obvious to everyone. Rick and Merle just stared at him. "The locks not cut. She didn't have a key. Someone must have helped her."

"Maybe they just went for a ride," Beth suggested. Merle was ready to go. He was going to check the cabin first and see if she was there, and if she wasn't he was going to track her. Rick was having none of that. Merle was the only one who knew where his son might be and he wasn't about to just let him take off without telling him where he was going. Rick grabbed at him and they both fell, wrestling and punching at each other on the ground. It took Glen, Daryl and three of the girls to separate them. Hershel stepped in between them.

"Now thats enough," he shouted, "we aren't going to find anyone by putting each other in the infirmary." Hershel began to try and mediate the situation. He figured out quickly what was going on. Rick didn't want Merle leaving without telling him where Carl might be, and Merle didn't want to tell Rick where their camp was because he thought Rick meant to come there and take Iva's animals. Hershel hated to admit it, but he thought Merle might have a point. Since the couple showed up yesterday Rick had quickly become obsessed with finding out where their camp was. Hershel had tried talking to him, but sometimes that man just wouldn't listen.

After a lot of cussing, more yelling and a few threats, it was decided that they were all going together to look for Iva and Carl. Hershel was going, and was insisting on bringing Beth along too. She knew why, but Merle, Daryl and Rick had not been informed. Hershel intended on talking Iva into coming back to live with them. He had noticed that the two girls had become friendly and he thought Beth might be able to help. Plus, tensions were still running high, and all her life Beth had been a calming influence on everyone she knew. Merle thought they might need a four wheel drive to get through, so they took the truck. Merle drove with Hershel riding shotgun and Beth squeezed in between. Rick and Daryl were in the back.

They had taken a more direct route through the woods to get to the prison, driving in the car took a little longer. Finally Merle spotted one of Toby's markings on a tree. There was a large bushy brach in the way that he knew Iva used to hide the driveway, well he guessed it was more of a trail really. Daryl and Rick got it out of the way and replaced it after Merle pulled the truck through. They claimbed back in and Merle took off, driving slower now. Iva came through here with her horse cart, but the car was a bit narrower than the truck and he almost clipped the mirrors a few times. Rick and Daryl made sure to pull their arms in. Merle had been wavering between intense worry and anger through the whole drive. He was furious that Iva would take off on him like that, but knowing her, he didn't think she would do it without a good reason. When they pulled up to the gate he really lost it. There was a huge pile of walkers there, had to be two dozen at least. He slammed the truck into park almost sending Beth through the windsheild and leaped out hollering for Iva and Toby.

Merle opened the gate and went in, followed closely by Daryl, who had his bow up. To Daryl's complete surprise, and young black kid about Carl's age came running up and threw his arms around his brother. Then, in an even more shocking turn of events, Merle hugged the boy back and ruffed up his hair a little. Daryl turned and waved to Hershel and Beth that it was safe to get out of the truck and come in. The kid was buzzing around Merle like a knat talking about a mile a minute. Sandy had been barking at a biter. And then more came and then they grabbed her and she was barking and Iva came and she shot them dead and then Carl was here and he helped them and some of the dogs hair got pulled out and Iva had a dream about it and then he showed Carl how to milk a goat. And the kid just went on until Daryl thought it was going to drive him about batshit crazy.

"Hey little man," Merle told the kid, "How bout you take a breath there bud."

"Oh," Toby said, "sorry." He guessed he had gotten a little excited.

"Wheres Iva?," Merle asked. Toby pointed towards the porch and sure enough there she was. She was sitting on the steps of the porch with her legs stretched out, eating some breakfast like she didn't have a care in the world. Sandy was lying at her feet, looking tired. Carl was sitting next to her and Mouser the cat was rubbing up on him trying to get a bite of whatever he was eating. Carl raised his hand and gave them a little wave.

"Hi dad!"

Rick could not believe this. Hi dad indeed. What that damn kid needed was a hi dad to the side of his head. Merle was already on his way over there. He stopped in front of Iva and started laying into her. Daryl watched and he noticed something was off but he couldn't figure out what it was. Then it came to him, this girl, her body language, she was not scared of his brother at all. Daryl knew three hundred pound bikers that were scared of his brother and this little girl was just sitting there calm as a fucking cucumber waiting for Merle to get done yelling at her. He had noticed something about her right away but had not been able to put his finger on it, but thats what it was, it was like her mettle had already been tested. Daryl didn't know but he was very close to the truth. Iva had not had an easy life. And she had faced up to bigger and badder than Merle Dixon in her day, that was for sure. She had figured out early on that all he did was yell. He yelled loud, but it was still just yelling. He didn't beat her with a belt or with bendy sticks from out in the yard. He didn't punch her or rape her or make her watch while he slapped his other wife's children around and tell her it was her fault. He didn't beat her until she miscarried her baby and then beat her for having a miscarriage. In fact she hoped he would hurry up and finish up yelling so she could eat her breakfast before it got cold.

Rick had motioned to Carl that he wanted to speak to him privately. They were standing around the side of the house and Rick was thinking about what he could say to get through to the boy.

"I know you're mad," Carl started, "but theres something I need to show you." The boy turned and opened up a door that led to a basement under the house. He flipped a lightswitch as they were headed down. Rick looked around the room, which was as large as the cabin above it and he could not believe his eyes. It was just food and food and food. There were rows of industrial metal shelves full of filled canning jars. Jam, pickles, applesauce, meat, whole fruit, juice and so much more that he couldn't even take it all in. On the top shelves were jars of dehydrated food; jerky vegetables and fruit mostly, but there were also jars filled with colored powders. Against one wall was Iva's cheese storage area, where all types of cheese in different stages of aging were stored. She also had rows of baskets that held onions, squashes and potatoes. On the bottom shelves were economy sized bags of flour and sugar, plus jars of lemon juice and boxes of baking powder, baking soda and yeast.

"They were lucky to find all this," Rick said, still taking in the sheer volume. This would feed everyone at the prison for months and months.

"They didn't FIND this dad," Carl explained, "Iva grew and canned it all." Rick looked at him in disbelief. "I asked Toby. He said some of it she had done before he got here, but he saw and helped her do most of it." Carl watched his dad's reactions.

"This isn't just about getting a few goats anymore dad," Carl said, "We need her."


	19. Chapter 19

The cabin

Beth watched in horror as her new friend got up and went inside the small house with Daryl's brother, the screen door banging shut with a loud clap behind them. The man had been screaming at her and Beth had been hoping maybe Daryl or Rick would step in and make him stop. Toby noticed the look of concern on her face. He also noticed that she was very pretty and not that much older than him. He was tall for his age and Beth was rather petite so they were about the same height too.

"Don't worry," Toby told her, "sometimes he be gettin pissed off, Iva just talks to him inside for a while and hes always in a real good mood when he comes out." Heshel started laughing and turned it into a cough. He had a feeling they were doing a little more than talking in there, though that might be what they were telling the boy. Making love everyday to a girl that young and pretty was bound to put anyone in good mood. Hershel's second wife had been a bit younger than him and very pretty. Beth favored her in looks and personality. Whatever was going on inside the cabin was for the best as far as Hershel was concerned, he wanted to get Merle on board with his plan before he talked with Iva and that would go much easier if he was in a better mood.

Toby was passing admiring glances at Beth and was thinking about when would be the right time to make hs move. He figured no time like the present and scooted closer to her wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"Mabye later I could show you the best place to sit and get a good look at the stars," Toby said. Leaning in closer he whispered to the girl, "its on my lap baby." Beth was shocked and a little amused. There was someone here whos lap she might like to sit on and it wasn't a skinny twelve year old who smelled strongly of manure. Luckily her dad stepped in and saved her from having to hurt the boy's feelings.

"I would thank you to take your hands off my daughter young man," Hershel said with a straight a face as he could muster, "shes not allowed to date." Toby stepped back. He hadn't realized this was the girl's father and now he was a little embarrassed. Also he had gotten plenty of tips on women from his pal Merle but maybe the man wasn't such an expert after all. Then again he had seen the man say something simliar to Iva once and she had seemed to like it. But maybe that was only because she already liked him anyway. Who knew, girls were confusing. Toby gave up trying to figure out the workings of the softer sex for the present time and led everyone over to the kitchen area for some breakfast.

Iva had used a few quarts of the cherry pie filling that she had canned up from their cherry picking and made a crumble. Toby was getting better at helping her in the kitchen and she had put him in charge of whipping up some fresh cream to go on top. He made sure to point this out to Beth. Carl and Rick came back around from the side of the cabin and since they had already eaten, Toby and Carl took off back towards the barn. Beth noticed a group of three adolescent sized geese was following them and Toby kept turing around shooing them, trying to make them stop. The boys decided to try and outrun them, and the geese, unable to fly, ran as fast as they could trying to keep up, with their fat butts working furiously from side to side and their heads bobbing back and forth. After Toby found the eggs and Iva had helped him hatch them, she had let Toby take the geese on as his personal project. He had lavished so much love and attention and treats, especially treats, on them they now regarded him as the leader of their flock and followed him everywhere with their obnoxious honking. Sometimes they even tried to come up in his treehouse and sleep with him, and the whole area under it was now a mine field of goose shit.

Hershel sat down to eat. He could tell by the look on Rick's face he had something to say. Rick told them about all the food he had seen downstairs and immediately started in with how three people didn't need all that and how they really needed it. Hershel kept his face neutral but really he just wanted to put his head down and sigh in frustration. No matter how many times he tried to talk to Rick, the man just couldn't see long term. Hershel put his hand up to stop the man. He needed Rick and Daryl on board with his plan and this was likely going to be his only chance to talk to them alone.

"This isn't about a few jars of food," he started, "I would like to invite Merle and Iva, and the boy too, to come live with us." Daryl was pleased but he knew there were a lot of people that wouldn't be.

"What about Glen?," he asked.

"I will talk to Glen," Hershel assured him. "Theres that whole other section of the prison we cleared out that no one is even using. It has its own yard, bigger than this one, where they could keep the animals." Hershel waited and watched the men for their responses. He could tell right away that Daryl was happy with the idea. It would be safer for them at the prison, he was sure he could sell his brother on that. This place had good fences to keep the walkers out but they wouldn't keep out people. Rick was not going to be so easy to convince but he looked like he was willing to listen at least.

"Iva has herbal medical knowedge, she also knows how to preserve and grow food," Hershel told the man, "we need people with those skills. Just look at what she has done here by herself and then think about what she could do if she had a group of people helping her." Going on runs was only going to get them so far before they exhausted all the resources in their area. Becoming self sustaining was the only way to go. And Hershel knew they needed this girl for that. Rick nodded. Hershel let out a deep breath. So far, this seemed to be going well. Now came the hard part. Someone was going to have to talk to Merle.

Daryl seemed the likely candidate but he knew his brother was going to try and convince him to leave the prison group and stay here. Merle hated Rick, so he was out, which left Hershel. Beth offered to try and talk to Iva, the girl had a mind of her own after all, and these were her animals and things, not Merle's. Daryl thought it was a good idea. If the girl wanted to go, she might do their dirty work for them and talk his brother into going.

Speak of the devil, here he came stomping down from inside the house and helping himself to a large bowl of food. Iva came out a few minutes later, using her hands to try and smooth down her freshly mussed hair. She picked up her bowl from where she had left it on the porch and joined them at the table.

"Well you found your kid," Merle said to Rick, "bout time for you to be on your way." Iva looked upset. She finally had some company and now Merle was throwing them out.

"Iva show plant to Hershel," she said to Merle, "Name plants. Show garden." She had also planned to offer the man some of her seeds but she left that out. Beth was here too, and Iva had not had any women friends to cook with in a long time, she was hoping Beth could help her do some canning and she could give the food to her as a thank you for the clothes. Merle looked over at Iva, surprised that she had spoken. She had a look on her face like someone had just run over her pet kitten. Merle shrugged.

"Y'all can stay to look at the gardens," he said, "then you gotta go." Daryl passed Hershel a glance that said, see I told you we should talk to her first. Merle didn't mind Hershel or his younger daughter being here, but he fucking hated that asshole cop. Fucker was lucky there was other people around to stop him or Merle might just beat his ass into the ground right now. Daryl saw the look his brother was giving Rick, something was going to have to be done about that.

"Since we are here," Daryl suggested, "maybe you want some help clearing those bodies off the gate?" It was not lost on Merle that his brother had said 'we' meaning him and Rick and he didn't like that shit not one little bit. Help clearing those bodies out sounded like a good idea though. He knew Iva was strong enough to help him but he didn't like her having to do shit like that if she didn't have to. And Toby was too small to drag the body of a grown man. Merle nodded and the men got up and headed for the gate. While they were out there Rick used a radio to call someone at the prison and let them know everyone was alright and they had found Carl.

Iva happily spent the afternoon showing her gardens and animals to Beth and Hershel. Most of her herbs were growing in old empty plastic bottles that were cut in half and stacked up in towers. They were fastened to the fence to keep them from tipping over. Hershel thought it was a great idea. The bottles dripped down from the top, saving water and growing the food vertically saved space as well. He patiently told Iva the name of each plant and listened while she explained what each plant was used for in her medicines. He wished aloud that he could write this down and Beth produced a notebook from her bag, her diary he assumed, turned it to and empty page and handed him a pen. It made him smile that Beth still kept her diary and he thought that one day in the far off future, when life was normal again, perhaps his daughter's diary would be read and re read by thousands as a record of this dark time in human history and how some people kept hope alive. Better watch what kind of things she's writing in there, he thought with a smile.

Merle took his brother around and showed him all the animals. He knew Daryl liked animals, he always had ever since he was a kid. And here they had them practically coming out the ass there were so many. They had a herd of goats, about two dozen not counting the small ones that had been born that spring. Grazing in with them was a group of sheep, about the same amount but with many more baby lambs. Merle explained that Iva did milk some of the sheep, but she raised them mostly for meat. The horses were there, of course, and Sandy the recently rescued dog. There were also a ton of birds. Chickens, ducks, even a few turkeys and some very friendly geese. There were some ducks that ran around standing up like bowling pins and some big fat white ones along with some that Daryl knew were pekins. There were a few birds Daryl didn't recognize that were guinea hens. Merle didn't know what they were called either, but he knew they always roamed around free on the property since they ate all the bugs off the plants and gave everyone a loud warning if anyone was coming. Daryl dubbed them the attack chickens. There was also one lonely milking cow who gave them a loud moo when they poked in on her where she was resting in the barn. Cages were set up for a run of rabbits, not too many of those yet, Iva and Toby had been trying to think of a way to live trap them so they could get some breeders. And of course there were the cats. Most of them hid out in the barn but Daryl noticed one friendly orange one that had come around and rubbed up on his brother's legs.

Daryl was impressed. How this girl had gotten all these animals here by herself was beyond him. Merle didn't know how she did it either. He knew the farm she lived on had been overrun but when he had asked her how she got the animals here all she could tell him was that the dog helped. The subject seemed to upset her so he left it alone. When she started out from her farm, the herd of animals had been much bigger and she had to watch as many of them had been eaten alive by kwade on the way. It wasn't something she liked to talk aboout.

The men walked back up towards the house and Merle saw Toby was scooping buckets of water out of the pool where Iva kept her fish. Carl and Rick were helping him. Hershel had been very impressed with the fish setup. There was on old above ground swimming pool, filled with water and fish, some water plants growing on top. Then Iva and Toby scooped out the dirty fish water in buckets and fertilized all the gardens with it. Hershel informed Iva there was actually a name for what she was doing and it was called aquaponics. Sounded like a pretty fancy word for fish shit to her and she laughed a little.

Of course she had already invited everyone to stay for dinner. Merle rolled his eyes and figured it wasn't hurting anything. Iva and Toby seemed to be having such a good time he didn't want bust in a ruin all their fun. He still hated that fucking cop though. He didn't trust the man either and the worry that he may come back without Hershel and with a lot more people and take whatever he wanted had crossed Merle's mind as well. That was a worry for another day though, and for now Merle was happy to have his brother back and to be getting along with him.


	20. Chapter 20

****As you might guess from the title, there will be some sexual violence in this chapter. Feel free to skip if you like. As always I own nothing from the walking dead.****

Iva, Beth and the Claimers

Not only had everyone stayed for dinner, but then it was starting to get dark so Iva insisted they all stay the night. It hadn't really been so bad. Merle had opened up an old dusty bottle of wine that had come with the cabin and the men, except for Hershel, had passed it around and let the boys each get a sip too. Iva didn't have any wish to drink old sour juice, as she called it, and Beth couldn't have any because her dad was there. Carl and Toby retired to his treehouse to laugh like crazy at what Rick assumed was comic books and Merle knew was the dirty magazines that Toby kept up there. He had taken a look at a few of them himself, but he didnt have much interest when he could get the real thing.

The next morning, the men were sleeping late, but Iva and Beth were up. With Carl and Toby's help they got the animals milked, watered and fed in record time. Iva got her bow, she always kept the knife on her, and started getting the large picking baskets out. Toby knew this meant berry picking and maybe a swim after, which sounded good to him and he started getting himself ready to go as well. Carl was impressed with the boy's slingshot and Toby gave him his spare one to borrow. Beth only had her knife, and Carl had a gun, which Iva looked at skeptically.

"Make loud noise," she told the boy. He would bring it along anyway, he figured, but would only use it if it was an emergency. Beth was looking at them with some apprehension. She wasn't sure how safe she felt going out with only another girl and two kids to protect her.

"Should we wake the guys up?," Beth asked, "maybe we should tell them where we are going." And take them with us, she thought.

"Its cool," Toby told her, "Merle will check to see if the picking baskets are gone, he will know we will be back soon." Beth was still scared, but no one else seemed to be and she didn't want to seem like a big scare baby chicken, so she grabbed a basket and resolved herself to go along. Iva went inside quietly and tried to call Sandy out but the dog was still sore and tired and much more interested in taking her spot in bed next to Merle than she was in going on a run.

"Is Sandy coming," Toby asked Iva. She shook her head. "Dumbass lazy dog," Toby announced. While he was not scared at all to go out alone or with Iva, he hated going out without the dog. Sandy could hear and smell much better than them and always gave them lots of extra warning if there were kwade around.

Dog or no dog, the small group set out. Iva looked forward to getting some fresh blueberries and she knew there were some trees near the blueberry patch where she could get the bark that she used for some of her medicinal teas. Willow bark and Slippery Elm were what she was after but she usually found more than that. Maybe they would get lucky and find some wild mushrooms or get a rabbit.

The blueberry patch was about a mile away and when they got there, Beth saw Iva and Toby had a net draped over the bushes to keep the birds and squirrels out. Smart, she thought. The day was sunny and nice and the four young people were having a good time picking and snacking on the berries. Toby set his basket down by Carl and announced that he had to take a piss. They told him to get out of there and Beth suggested that he walk further away so they didn't have to worry about stepping in his pee later. He did as he was asked and snaked off into the woods.

Iva was picking away, smiling at Beth and thinking about how happy she was to have such a nice new friend. She looked up and saw they were suddenly surrounded by strange men. Iva dropped her basket and the hard picked berries bounced out onto the ground. She strung an arrow in her bow and put her back to Beth, aiming it at one of the men. Carl got his gun out, but it was Beth that had the life saving response.

"RUN TOBY RUN," she screamed as loud as she could, "GET DARYL AND RICK!" Toby didn't hesitate, he ran. One of the men took of after him but the damn kid ran like a rat and was out of sight in no time. The man came back huffing for breath. Iva was angry. She knew she didn't really own this land but this was her turf and she didn't like a bunch of strangers barging in and scaring her new friends.

"Leave now," she told the men. They just laughed and she noticed a few of them were edging in, looking her body up and down. She didn't want to kill the men, but she would if she had to. One of the men darted in closer to Beth and she swiped her knife at him, backing him off.

"I claim first ride on the small one there," the man said. Iva turned and put an arrow straight through his eye and out the other side of his head. Then everything just exploded in chaos. Carl aimed for one with his gun but them man was at his arms first and it fired off harmessly into the air. Beth was distracted by the noise and the man that had been jeering at her used the opportunity to dart in a grab ahold of her. He twisted her wrist until she felt it would break and she dropped her knife onto the ground.

"Thats right sweetheart," he told her, "nice and easy." She could feel the man's hot breath on her neck. Another man moved in closer and she tried to kick him. He dodged her leg easily and grabbed her by the hair, smacking her across the face. She felt the side of her face explode in pain and little black spots swum in front of her eyes. Iva had turned on the other men with her bow but they got in to close before she could fire off another arrow. One of them grabbed her from behind and she threw her head back into his face, feeling a satisfied crunch as it rammed into his nose.

"Fucking bitch," the man cursed at her, holding his now bleeding face, "she fucking killed Rob." Another man came at her now and she acted like she was going to run and then mule kicked him in the crotch. She put up a good fight but there were five of them and one of her and soon they had ahold of her. A man with grey hair and a goatee grabbed her face.

"We were just going to fuck you," he told her, "Now we're going to fuck you and we are going to kill you." With those words he kicked her knees out and the men began taking turns kicking her. Two men had Beth. One was pinning her arms painfully behind her back and the man who had originally lunged at her was now standing in front of her. He got a knife out of his belt and used it to cut the front of her shirt open. Then he grabbed her bra and cut through the middle part. He pushed it open, baring her small breasts and then took one in his hands and pinched the nipple hard. She started to cry now and the men laughed at her. The man holding her kicked at her legs and forced her down onto her knees. She couldn't see Carl but she could hear him crying. The man holding her reached around and grabbed at her breasts. The other man was unzipping his jeans. He took out his penis and thrusted it into her face.

"Listen up you little whore," the man who had ahold of her said, "you fucking even think about biting and we will cut your fucking tits off, understand?" Beth nodded. The other man came closer to her face again. His penis was dirty and he smelled bad. Really bad. She tried to turn away but the other man grabbed her hair and pulled it hard, twisting her arms behind her until they felt like they might break. The man shoved his penis at her, forcing it into her mouth and almost choking her. The other man was twisting at her arms and reaching around to fumble with the buttons on her jeans. He slid his hand into her pants and shoved a dirty finger up inside her. She couldn't cry out or move but she could suddenly hear a lot of yelling. The man that had ahold of her fell back dead with an arrow in his head and she bit down on the other man as hard as she could. He screamed and fell back, then she saw Toby jump towards him, shoving him the rest of the way to the ground and stabbing him in the ear.

When Beth turned she saw Carl holding onto his dad. Most of the men were dead but Merle had the one with the grey hair on the ground and was punching him in the face over and over. When they showed up that man had been on top of Iva, trying to pull her pants down. Suddenly Daryl was in Beth's face.

"You alright?," he asked. She nodded. He moved towards Iva, who wasn't looking so good. Her face was swelling rapidly and since her shirt was ripped open he could see her breasts were covered in bite marks and she had a large red mark on her ribs. She turned on her side and started vomiting blood. Daryl didn't wait, he picked her up and ran with her. Back to the cabin. Back to Hershel who could make her better.


	21. Chapter 21

The cabin part two

Iva was sleeping on the bed. When Hershel heard that she had been vomiting blood, he had feared for the worst. Internal injuries were beyond his ability to fix in his current situation. One of the men had kicked her in the face. It had knocked out a tooth and split both her lips. She had vomited the blood only because she had swallowed a lot of it. The worst of her injures were her cracked ribs, which Hershel knew would be painful for a long time. All he could do was tape them up and tell her to take it easy. They wouldn't know if she had a head injury until after she woke up. Beth and Merle had received ice for the cheek and hand, and Carl had gotten some willow bark tea.

The tea had been Toby's idea and while Iva was still knocked out, he had declared himself Hershel's unofficial medical assistant. Hershel was surprised by how much the boy knew. He knew where Iva kept her medicinal herbs and which ones she used for what. Marigolds infused in hot water to wash out cuts. And he knew which salve was to prevent infection and which was for Merle's arm. The willow bark tea was a fairly generic remedy for general pain.

Hershel walked over and checked back inside the cabin. Merle had the armchair pulled up next to the bed where he was sitting with his feet up, drinking wine straight from the bottle and keeping an eye on Iva. Hershel had been wrestling with himself on what to do. It felt wrong to use this terrible turn of events to his advantage, but sometimes things happened for a reason. Hershel made up his mind, he walked inside and quietly pulled up a chair next to Merle.

"Shes going to be alright," Hershel told him, "Her face looks worse than it actually is." Merle knew all this already. The man had already told him and then Toby had repeated it all fifty times like a fucking parrot.

"Could have been a lot worse if Daryl and Rick hadn't been here," Hershel added gently. Merle looked at the man. Where the fuck was he going with this. He was grateful to the man for helping Iva, but now he wished he would go back outside and leave them alone.

"We have that whole big section of yard at the prison, much bigger than you have here," Hershel continued, "seems a shame just to let it go to waste. Theres a whole other cellblock over there too. Already cleaned out." Hershel paused to see how the man would react. Merle thought this over. Yesterday he would have told the man to piss off. Thanks but no thanks. But now he was thinking about what happened today. What might have happened if only Iva and Toby had been out there. He also thought about his brother, who he knew didn't want to leave his new friends. And he thought about himself. Iva was wonderful, but he didn't know if he could spend his whole life with his only companion as a woman who could barely hold a conversation. He needed to be around other people, and he thought she did too. Just look how much fun Iva had been having with Beth, cooking with her and talking to her. He looked at Hershel and nodded. If he had anything to say about it, they would come live at the prison. They could work out the details later.

Iva finally woke up in the middle of the night. Hershel got up and gave her the medicine he had ready for her pain and got her some water. He let her know her ribs were broke and she needed to be careful with them.

"Rib broke one time before," she told him quietly, "kick by bad horse. Men dead?" Hershel nodded. The men that had hurt her were indeed dead. She nodded thankfully and fell back softly onto her pillow. Hershel tiptoed back to his sleeping place, which right now was on an air mattress on the floor with Beth. He laid down and fell asleep to the soft sounds of Merle and Iva whispering to each other in bed and his daughter's soft snores.

The next day was the day of negotiations. Toby and Merle dragged the armchair outside and then Merle carried Iva out despite her loud protests that she was fine and her legs were not hurt. She needed to be a part of this. Hershel started by pointing out that they were well into the growing season and most of the garden plants would die if they were transplanted now. Iva nodded her approval. She agreed. They also didn't have a barn for the animals so they would need to build one. Chicken and ducks coops too Toby reminded them. Iva offered to give them the seeds that could be started now for fresh vegetables in the fall. This was not going to be a one day move. It was going to take some serious work from the prison group to get things ready for the animals. Rick did as Hershel had asked him and stayed quiet during most of the talk which seemed to help.

They decided that Daryl would stay at the cabin with Iva and Merle until things at the prison were ready, by that time many of the fruits and vegetables that were already planted would be ready to harvest. The long growing ones, like the winter squash, didn't require much maintence and would be fine here for them to come back and get later. Toby would go back to the prison and help oversee the building of the barn and coops since he knew best what the animals needed. The problem now was Beth. She was absolutely adamant that she was not leaving her injured friend. And Hershel was adamant that she would not be staying there, but coming back to the prison with them. Finally she pulled up a seat next to Iva, who was very moved by Beth's concern, and let them know the only was she was leaving was for them to drag her out of there.

"We will keep a fucking eye on her for christ sake," Merle announced. Frankly he was sick of this fucking conversation. Beth was a grown woman and if she wanted to stay there she could stay. Honestly he knew Iva was going to need some help bathing and shit for a while and it would be better to have the girl here to help her. He knew when he was laid up it was a lot less humiliating to have Toby help him and he thought Iva might prefer Beth if she needed help to the bathroom or to wash up. Iva said nothing just reached over and took Beth's hand and held it in her lap.

That settled it. Hershel knew if he really pushed he could get Beth to listen, even though she could be just as stubborn as Maggie if she thought she was right. But if he made her come back she would be miserable and he couldn't have that. He kissed her cheek and headed for the truck. Daryl had the walkie in case of emergency and someone would be back in a week to check up on them and give them an update on the progress. Toby gave Iva a very gentle hug and then a rougher one for Merle before he took off for the truck. He was feeling a little bad about leaving Iva when she felt so bad, but she had assured him that he had a very important job to do. Carl and Toby rode away in the back of the truck with Rick and Hershel in the cab. Daryl closed the gate behind them.

"Bed please," Iva asked Merle, holding her arms up to be carried.

"Thought you could walk just fine?," he asked her with a smirk, then scooped in to lift her up and take her inside. As he carried her in, he felt her arms around him and her cheek against his neck. He poked back out a few seconds later.

"Don't come in here unless you want your sex education," he told Beth. She could not believe the two of them were in there messing around. He better not hurt her worse, Beth thought. Then she remembered Iva taking down three armed men and figured she could take care of herself. Daryl came walking back up from the gate and went straight into the house before Beth could warn him.

"What is wrong with you," she heard him yelling from inside, "dontcha ever give that shit a rest. Shes fucking hurt for chrissakes." Daryl was standing in the doorway now and Beth saw him duck a flying shoe that someone, she guessed his brother, had thrown at him. He came out and plunked down in the armchair. Beth was laughing.

"Sorry," she said, "I tried to warn you." Beth had stayed to help Iva, but getting lots of alone time with Daryl was like an extra added bonus. She heard a soft moan coming from inside the house and laughed again. Daryl turned to look at the door of the cabin and then back at Beth. It was going to be a long summer.


	22. Chapter 22

**** I know I have gotten a few reviews wondering who Daryl will be paired with. I left that off on purpose because I felt the story would be more exciting that way. ****

Daryl and the stupid fucker

Iva had made a sworn promise to Hershel that she would stay in bed and rest. And she kept that promise. For about two days. Merle had hollered at her and tried to make her go back to bed and she promptly ignored him, which of course amused Daryl to no end. He liked the girl but now he was developing a strange kind of respect for her. He watched her for a while that day, she had milked the goats. Him and Beth had already done it, but not done it right it seemed. Then she stood up, holding her ribs for a minute and wheezing, then picked up the bucket of milk and continued with her business. Those ribs had to hurt like a sonofabitch and he knew she had some tea she was drinking to dull the pain but it could only be doing so much. Later that day is when she started bleeding.

Beth found her over by the rain bucket, washing herself off and crying. She had some blood on her thighs that she was washing off with a cloth. Beth still felt a little strange about seeing other people naked, but there wasn't a lot of privacy here. Nudity was just another strange thing to get used to in the apocolypse.

"Iva are you okay?," Beth asked. Her voice was full of concern. Iva nodded.

"Lose baby," she said. Beth was shocked, she hadn't heard anything about Iva being pregnant. "Stomach hurt, more and more all night. Then I know," Iva finished. She had an idea she might be pregnant before the attack in the woods and was worried she might lose the baby. When she didn't start bleeding right away she had hoped it would be alright, but in the middle of the night the cramping had started. She had got up to tend to the goats hoping the movement would alleviate some of the cramps. It had, but then she had started bleeding and she knew the baby was gone. She would go inside and make some tea with raspberry leaf and yarrow to try and help the process go faster and lessen the cramps.

"I am so sorry," Beth said. She knew it was a lame thing to say but she really was just so sorry. She hated those men in the woods, more now even than before and it made her want to brush her teeth again, like she had been doing about fifteen times a day since it happened. "Is there anything I can do?" Iva nodded, which made Beth feel good.

"Get towel and clothes and small rag Iva keep in top dresser," Iva asked. Of course Beth would get her the things, and while she was in there she put some water in the kettle and turned the burner on. She thought Iva would want to make herself tea. Then she went out quickly to bring Iva the things she needed. Beth had picked out the most comfortable looking items she could find and made sure to bring the woman some underwear. Iva looked at her gratefully and got dressed. As they walked back inside, Iva took Beth's hand and held it. By the time the girls got inside Iva was sobbing.

"Just show me what tea you want and I can make it for you," Beth told her. Iva didn't know how the girl knew she wanted tea, but she was grateful and got the jars she wanted out of the cupboard. Then she lay down in bed, holding a pillow tight to her stomach and just let the tears come. She had been so happy and excited about this baby. And no one was going to beat her this time and make her lose it like that awful man Zeke had done. Then thats exactly what had happened. Maybe she didn't deserve a baby. Maybe this was god's way of punishing her for all the bad things she had done. She had been lustful. Really lustful. And her and Merle weren't even married so that was probably a lot more sins there. She hadn't kept close enough watch over her first husband Zachary and his heart condition. They had been making love and then she had gone to the bathroom and when she came back he was dead. And then she had been the wife of his brother and she had thought hateful things about the man every single day. He was her husband who she was supposed to love and respect him and she had hated him. Hated him so much. And when the turn came, she had hidden in the barn and killed him with a pitchfork. He had been coming to kill her, but murder was still a sin. She knew god had sent those men to kill her baby and she had deserved it.

Beth could hear the other woman sobbing while she made the tea. She wished there was something more she could do to help. When the tea was done, she set it on the little table next to the bed and went to get Merle. He and Daryl were behind the barn, throwing rocks at pop cans.

"I think you better go talk to Iva," Beth said to Merle as she approached.

"What for," he countered, "stubborn bitch wont listen to me. I already done told her to go back to bed."

"Shes in bed," Beth said. She was starting to get a little irritated with the man. And she didn't like him calling Iva a bitch, even if she had been acting a little bullheaded earlier.

"Then what the fuck you want me for," he asked.

"Because she just lost her baby," Beth told him angrily. His face went pale white and Beth immediately regretted saying it so harshly.

"What in the hell kind of shit you talkin girl," Merle asked, getting a little closer to her now. She could see that his good hand was shaking a little. Beth sat him down on a box. She then explained very gently what was going on. She hadn't realized that Merle didn't even know about the pregnancy. He got up then and headed for the house. Beth moved to follow him and Daryl stopped her with his hand on her arm. He was right, she thought, she wanted to help but they needed to be alone right now.

Daryl looked at Beth and quickly let go of her. She was very attractive but a little young for him. And he had a lot of respect for Hershel. And she was too young for him. And she was too good for him. And he did not deserve her. It had been easy enough to avoid her most of the time at the prison but it was harder here. There was no one else around. She was standing there now, tears in her eyes, all that feeling for someone else's pain. Thats why shes too good for you, he told himself. But then she was in his arms, crying a little against his chest. He had to hug her back, it would be really mean if he didn't.

She felt Daryl's arms go around her and she held him tighter. There was now a lot more of him to hug, mainly in his pants and she could feel it pressing against her stomach. She tipped her head up and lifted up on her toes to kiss him. He held still at first, not sure what to do but then he kissed her back. Her felt her mouth open to take in his tounge and Beth could taste him now. He tasted like cigarettes and iced tea and heaven. This got that awful taste out of her mouth better than a thousand toothbrushes.

They didn't know it but from a few feet away someone was watching them. It was one of Iva's sheep. The sheep didn't really have names but Merle had named this one Stupid Fucker because it was such a stupid fucker. Its favorite hobby was waiting until Merle wasn't watching it, and then getting out of wherever they had it locked up and headbutting him as hard as it could. Toby liked to watch this, and it usually backed up at least three yards once it had Merle's ass in sight so it could get a running start and really butt the shit out of him. Now it was watching Daryl and Beth kiss, the stupid humans, and it was not enjoying the show.

Beth had been kissing Daryl and without warrning her ass was suddenly in a fair amount of pain and they were tumbling head over heels onto each other and landing straight in the dirt. Beth tried to get up but they were all tangled up. Daryl looked up and saw the sheep, who was standing there looking as pleased as a sheep could look, thinking about giving them a second helping of what it had just dished out. Beth was rubbing her ass and laughing now. Talk about a mood killer. Daryl was not so impressed. Here he had finally been putting the moves on Beth, or maybe she had been putting the moves on him. Either way they had been kissing and this asshole sheep had to come along and ruin everything. He looked up at the sheep, hay in his hair and dirt smeared on his face, probably goat or goose shit all over him too and Daryl just shook his head and pointed up at the animal.

"You are one stupid fucker."


	23. Chapter 23

Glen and Maggie

Glen woke up early. He and Maggie were sleeping in their cell, having been banned from taking night watch up in the guard tower together. Her breathing was soft and regular so he knew the woman still slept. Snuggling in, he reached his arm around to pull her closer to him and get a gentle squeeze on her softer attributes. He was thinking a little about waking her up to do a little more than squeeze and he was also thinking about curling up with her and going back to sleep a while. Then he remembered what day it was.

Someone had to go check on Beth and Daryl today and by some horrible twist of bad decision making, he and Maggie had been nominated. Maggie wanted to see her sister. And Hershel had given Glen a very long talk about god and forgiveness and bygones that Glen had only half listened to while he imagined punching his fist into Merle's face over and over and over again. Feeling his body tense next to hers pulled Maggie from the pleasant dreams she had been having. She knew what day it was as well. Maggie had already suggested that her and Carol could just go and Glen could stay behind, but of course he wouldn't hear of that.

"Holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die," she said softly to Glen. As far as she was concerned holding grudges is what caused this whole mess in the first place. She was fine, Glen was fine, and personally there was nothing she would like better than to forget the whole mess and just put it behind her. Glen didn't anwser but he nodded and she felt him relax a little back into the bed. They still had a little time before they needed to be up and if they had learrned one lesson from all that had happened, it was that time was not a thing to be wasted.

Iva had stayed in bed and babied herself for a few days with herbal teas and lots of rest but now she was back up and full of energy. She had the baskets out and was planning to go foraging in the woods for edibles and medicinal plants. Most of what they ate, she grew herself but it never hurt to supplement. Plus Beth seemed interested in what wild foods were good to eat and how to find them. The animals needs had already been met and Beth had woken the boys up to come with them. To Beth's surprise Iva had been more than willing to go out again without them but this time Beth insisted. Iva had figured it was just as well, they could carrry more if they boys were with them.

The girls wore empty backpacks and their weapons, and were carrying large baskets with them. Daryl had been taken off guard when Iva produced a third basket and shoved it in his general direction. Merle hadn't been expected to carry a basket. It seemed petty to point out this fact, so Daryl just schlepped his basket along without complaint and followed behind the women. Before long Iva began pulling up plants and telling Beth what they were good for. Beth was having some trouble, it all just looked like grass and leaves to her. Merle had to yank her back to keep her from grabbing up a whole stalk of poison ivy. Daryl, however, was picking up the trick quickly. A whole lifetime of tracking had given him a trained eye, and he found it easy to distinguish the subtle differences in the leaves of the plants. He had found carrying the basket to be somewhat unmanly at first but now he was having a good time. Hunting was great, but it never hurt ot have a little something to eat with your squirrel.

Before Beth knew it, she looked over and found Daryl's basket was half full while hers only held a very few items, which Iva had pointed out and told her to pick. _Does he have to be good at everything? _Here she was struggling to tell the difference between wild garlic and a stalk of grass and he was already having to make room in his basket for more. Beth knew she would never compete with the guys when it came to hunting and fighting, but she at least thought she might be good at this. Even Merle was finding more than her, and he didn't even appear to be looking very hard.

"Sorrel," he declared, holding up a leaf that to her looked like every other damn leaf she had seen. He picked a large bunch more, taking only half the plant as Iva had cautioned him. That way they could come back for more later. Beth let out a very dejected sounding huff. Iva could see the young woman's growing frustration and she felt bad for her. Daryl noticed as well.

"Sometimes it helps if you smell it," he suggested. "Like that, see if you can figure out what that one is." He said, pointing to a more easily recognizable plant. Beth stared at it, then picked a leaf and rubbed it between her fingers, smelling it carefully.

"Smells like mint," she said, her voice sounding a little unsure.

"Right,"he told her. He was then rewarded with a huge smile from Beth and they sunk down to collect the pungent leaves. Iva usually made a mint tea for everyone to drink after dinner and sometimes used it to mask the taste of something bitter in her medicinal teas so they went through quite a bit of it. Beth was concentrating on the plants, so Daryl took the time to look at her with a few sideways glances. Nothing had happened between them since that day with the sheep and he wasn't sure if he should say something about it or not. Merle and Iva were a little ways ahead, using their knives to get to the inner bark of a tree. Beth noticed the silence between them had suddenly gotten awkward. She didn't know what to do or say either and had been waiting and hoping he would take the lead. Their hands touched and she looked up at him, only to hear raucous laughter coming from ahead of them. This was followed by some disgusting facial expressions and animal noises coming from Daryl's brother.

"Just fuck her and get it over with," Merle suggested loudly. Daryl yanked his hand back and stood up, stomping away from Beth. Iva smiled a little. The elder of the two brothers seemed to have forgotten how long it had taken him to do the same with her. And when it came down to the act he certainly hadn't been in any hurry to get it over with. She blushed a little at the memory, they hadn't been together since she had been bleeding from the miscarriage. Now that she was feeling better she was thinking it was about time. It was probably too soon to start another baby but there was no harm in practicing.

Iva had been leading them in the direction of a field she knew, where she hoped they would find some dandelions. And dandeloins there were, thousands of them. Beth grew excited, at least there was one plant she knew. She hadn't know the whole plant was edible. Iva dumped all the plants they had found so far into one basket, leaving two empty ones. The girls collected the leaves and dug up the roots of the plants, and sent the boys out for the tops. The promise of dandelion wine and jelly made the chore seem much less emasculating. Iva knew the real work would come later, separating the yellow tops from the small bitter green stems that held them together was a long boring and tedious task, but it was well worth the rewards. She was grateful again to have Beth there. Chores went faster and were much more fun when done with the help of a friend.

Iva and Beth were in the outdoor kitchen area, washing everything they had found on their hunt and either laying it out to dry or placing it carefully in the dehydrator. The brothers were dipping water out of the fish pool and watering any plants that seemed dry. Iva noticed they were doing a lot of _accidental _spilling and splashing of the foul water onto each other. While it was funny to watch two grown men act like small children, making love to someone who smelled strongly of fish piss and shit really wasn't so sexy.

Sandy the dog had been following her new friend Daryl around but she was suddenly off to the gate, barking. The guinea hens ran over too, making a loud chorus of honking and squaking. Their bodies were grey and white spotted and they had little patches of feathers on the tops of their heads that stuck up and looked like little hats. The male was easy to pick out. He was the loudest one of all and was running back and forth at the gate, keeping his flock of lady hens back. Daryl had watched him fight off a much larger male duck once, when the duck had thought to have his way with some of his ladies.

"There goes the attack chickens," Daryl announced. He knew it had been about a week and this was likely someone from the prison group, but he grabbed his bow just to be safe and headed towards the gate. Merle was calling the dog back and Iva came over to shoo the nosy hens away and make sure they didn't run out when the gate was opened. Daryl hadn't been sure who was coming, but guessed it would likely be Carl and Rick. He had some trouble hiding his bewilderment when the truck pulled forward and he saw Glen and Maggie were in the cab.

Before they had even stopped, Toby leaped out of the back and started barreling at Iva like a freight train. Merle caught hold of him and gave him a stern warning to take it easy. Toby had been so excited so see his friend he hadn't been thinking that her ribs were still hurt and maybe he colliding with her at top speed wasn't his best idea ever. Slighty more subdued now, Toby scampered over to Iva and let himself be wrapped up in a warm hug. Next, Toby's geese came honking over for some attention and he knelt down and hugged them too, making them flap their wings and honk even louder. Iva laughed, she had seen a lot of things in her day, but seeing someone hug a protesting goose was a new one. Then of course Sandy had to shove in for some pets and scratches before running back to Merle's side to issue some growls at their other visitors.

The dog was usually friendly, but she picked up on how tense the man was and prepared herself for a fight. Maggie came in first, cautiously skirting the growling dog, and embraced her sister. If she had anything to say about it, Beth would be coming back with them and the end of this uncomfortable visit. Glen came in behind her, and Daryl shut and latched the gate behind him.

"Maggie wanted to see her sister," Glen said to Merle. His look implied the rest of what he didn't say. That he had only come because he didn't think Maggie was safe without him. That they had only come because they thought he might have been doing something horrible to Beth. That Glen hated him and still blamed him for everything that had happened between with the governor. Daryl watched the two men closely, wondering if they were going to go for each other and start fighting. He guessed Hershel had sent Glen here, hoping the men cold sort out their differences. The dog was really growling now, her hair standing up on her back and her teeth bared at the unwelcome man.

"Thats enough Sandy," Merle told the dog firmly, giving her a light swat on the side, "Go on in the house and lie down." The dog gave Glen one last menacing look and took off reluctantly for the porch. Well, Daryl thought, at least thats a start.


	24. Chapter 24

The visit

Glen took a moment to observe the woman who Hershel insisted was going to be the savior of the group. She looked like a rather ordinary girl to him. And it was obvious she had taken one hell of a beating. Her face wasn't swollen anymore, but one side of it was covered in multicolored bruises including a very dark and nasty looking black eye. Both her lips were healing up from where they had been split. She was wearing a red tank top and mens boxer shorts, which she had folded over at the waistband to make them fit better. Glen could see she had finger mark bruises on her arms and huge dark bruises on her thighs were she had been kicked and grabbed. While he wished no ill will on this girl who was still a stranger to him, part of Glen felt Merle deserved that shit a little for what he had let the governor do to Maggie.

Iva watched the man as well. She recognized him from the prison as the man who had threatened Merle and she wasn't sure why he was here. Iva decided to let him stay but keep a close eye on him in case he tried anything. She was happy to meet Beth's sister, and had some things she wanted to discuss with her.

"Iva have many jar," she started, "full of food, very heavy. You take now?" Iva knew moving the large jars of food was going to be a long project. And she knew the people at the prison needed food. She had discussed it with Merle and decided to send some back with whomever was coming for the visit. Merle directed his comments towards Glen.

"Half that food needs to go in the empty wing of the prison where we are going to be staying," he said, "the other half you all can have." Glen nodded, this seemed fair enough and he really hadn't been expecting the man to give them anything. Iva gestured for the boys to follow her down into her cellar where she pointed out which shelves of items she wanted them to take. Glen had heard from Rick that there was a lot of food here but he hadn't expected this. He looked around in wonder.

"Whats all that," he asked the woman, pointing at the shelves that held all types of cheeses that were in different stages of aging.

"Cheese," she anwsered, "this cheese not ready for eat. More upstairs." Glen nodded. He didn't really know what to say he was so overwhelmed with everything he was seeing. Hershel had been one hundred percent right. They did need this girl. It was really too bad she was so involved with Merle. The men set away, filing up milk crates and boxes with the heavy glass jars, stuffing in rags to be sure they didn't break. Glen was happy to see all the meat. They hadn't had much meat even when Daryl was at the prison and even less without him around. There were jars full of strange looking pink cubes of meat, which Merle explained was corned venison. Iva diced it up with jars of potatoes and fried it with fresh peppers and onions, topped with a sunny side up egg.

"Don't send all of those," Daryl declared. That was his favorite breakfast. Glen laughed and put a few back. There were jars of chicken for days, chicken by itself, chicken corn chowder, chicken pot pie filling, chicken chili, and chicken soup. There was also a lot of venison canned in all different varieties and a ton of vegetables. Glen was happy when he saw all the pumpkin, pumpkin bread and muffins were Maggie's favorite.

"Is it okay if we take a bag of flour and sugar?," Glen asked. Daryl figured it was fine, they had more than enough, but turned to Merle for an anwser. The man shrugged and nodded. This was going much better than Daryl had expected. Maybe Hershel knew what he was doing after all.

The girls plus Toby were in the kitchen area finishing up with the work that Beth and Iva had been doing when Maggie arrived. Iva had knew that the week was up and that someone from the prison group was coming for a visit. She had hoped that would mean a visit from Toby as well and had a special dinner she was planning to make for him. While she worked, Toby filled her in on everything that was going on at the prison. They had picked a spot to build the barn and had found a tractor supply store that had prefab chicken coops in stock. Each coop could hold 6 birds and they had ten of them. People were working on getting them put together.

The boy also had a set of questions that he needed to ask Iva for Rick. Could they have one goat now so they could have milk for the baby, which of course Iva agreed to immediatley. She had been worried about that baby, who Beth had told her had no mother to nurse her and ate only water mixed with powdered formula. Toby had also been told to ask if they could have some canned food now, which he didn't have to ask since she had already offered it up. And he wanted to know if they could have a few chickens once they had to coops togther. Iva thought that would be fine too. At next weeks visit, she would be sure to have a small flock picked out for them.

Maggie looked at her sister and thought about the best way to start the conversation she meant to have with her. Beth seemed happy here, so that wasnt going to make it any easier. Maggie had hoped Beth would have had enough of being here at this cabin and would want to come back with them, but that obviously wasn't the case. Beth seemed different to her, more confident and less afraid.

"Hows it been going here with you-know-who?," Maggie asked, mindful that Iva was shelling peas only a few feet away. At first Beth thought her sister was talking about Daryl and she felt her face get hot. _How does she know anything about that? _Then Beth came to her senses and realized Maggie was talking about the elder of the two brothers. Beth shrugged. Merle was fine. He had a foul mouth that was sometimes funny and sometimes not so funny. She had learned a lot of extremely dirty jokes about barnyard animals and a little bit about hunting and fishing. His concern for her friend Iva seemed genuine and he treated the woman well. He reminded her a little of Daryl but with the volume turned up. She had thought about asking him about her situation with his brother a few times and then decided against it.

"Hes been fine," Beth anwsered. It was the truth, but Maggie looked at her as though she didn't believe this. She seems like she would be happier if he had done something horrible to me, Beth thought. Beth had seen the man looking at her a few times, but it always seemed like he was just sizing her up, she had not gotten a sexual vibe from him at all and why would she. Iva was plenty as pretty as she was and had bigger breasts too. She had seen Daryl looking at the girl a few times and had looked down at her own chest in disapointment. "Really Maggie, everything has been fine. _Everyone _has been nice to me."

"Dad really misses you, you know," Maggie informed her. _So thats what this was about. _Beth knew Maggie didn't like Daryl's brother, but she felt there had been a little more to the question than that. Maggie wanted her to come back with them. Well she had another think coming because Beth was staying right here. Beth liked it here. No one treated her like a baby here. She was learning a lot from Iva too, and she wanted to learn more. Plus she liked the girl and was happy to finally have a friend her own age. And of course there was Daryl. She was still hoping something would happen between them and that wasn't going to happen if she was back at the prison and he was here. And she didn't mind Daryl's brother either, he had showed her how to clean a fish and how to stab a walker with a knife so her knife would pull back out easier and not get stuck. All people thought she was good for back at the prison was babysitting and cooking oatmeal.

The sisters went back and forth arguing for a while and Maggie was really making Beth feel guilty over her dad. This was ironic because Hershel had specifically told his older daughter that he was fine and to leave Bethy alone if she was happy at the cabin. Beth didnt know that though and eventually agreed to come back with the next group that came for a visit a week from now, then stay for a week visit with her dad and sister. Maggie walked away to check on Glen. Beth let out a sad sigh. Iva had watched the two girls banter and argue. While she would be sad to see Beth go, she didn't want to stop the girl from seeing her father.

"Why sad," Iva asked her, "Beth no want see dad?"

"No," Beth replied, "I do want to see him. But once they get me back there, they might not let me come back." Iva nodded in understanding. She knew Beth's father had wanted to take her back with him. Iva didn't really understand their english ways, but she suspected it may be innapropriate for an umarried young woman, such as Beth, to be here alone with two men and no chaperone. In Iva's community, Daryl would have simply made an offer for Beth and if her father had acccepted, they would have been married. She had figured out quickly that things with these people were never so simple. While she understood that Beth's father wanted her to come back and see him, Iva didn't like the idea that people would force her friend to stay somewhere she didn't want to be. She offered a solution.

"No worry," Iva told the girl, taking her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze, "If dad make Beth stay, Iva send Merle and Daryl. Come get." Beth smiled. That was a good solution. Plus she liked the idea of Daryl coming to get her if they wouldn't let her leave.

"Dont worry Beth," Toby added galantly, "I will make them bring you back." She smiled at the boy. He could probably make anyone do anything. Even if he did nothing but follow you around and talk he could drive you batty and deaf. He was overjoyed when he heard Beth agree to come back with them. Since he had seen her, he had assumed that there was an entire harem of beauties back at the prison and had been sorely disapointed when he got there. There had been one hot chick who walked around carrying a ninja sword but when he had tried to hit on her she had let him know in no uncertain terms that she was not interested in a boy his age. It had been worth a try, he figured, she had the biggest booty he had ever seen on a girl that skinny. Now Beth was coming back with him and Daryl, who the boy had seen her looking at, wouldn't be around. Toby's planning was interupted by his name being called loudly from over by the gate.

"Toby," Merle hollered at the boy, "get your ass over here and help." Merle had been wondering where the boy was, and had not been exactly shocked to see that instead of helping carry heavy boxes, his black ass was in the kitchen fiddling around with the girls and watching Iva make dinner. Toby shot off in their direction like a damn bat out straight out of hell and then proceeded to follow him around with the boxes running his mouth about nothing. Despite his more annoying traits, Merle liked the boy well enough. For all the months he had been waiting for his leg to heal, Toby had been the only person he had to talk to and they knew a lot about each other. The kid was such a goofy little dumbass, he reminded him a little of Daryl when he had been that age. That had been right about the time that Merle had left to join the service and left Daryl alone with their father against his better judgement.

Dinner was the best Glen and Maggie had since before the turn. Iva had remembered that whenever she had come home for a visit, her mother had really done it up for her and she wanted to do the same for Toby. She hoped it would encourage him to keep visiting every week, just as her mother had hoped to keep her and her husband coming back. There was a big salad with some of the dandelion greens they had picked earlier, with sauteed wild mushrooms and goat cheese on top. The main dish was two lamb loins, that had been left to sit overnight in a mixture of olive oil mixed with garlic and herbs then flash grilled over hot coals until they were crispy on the outside but still pink in the middle. There were lightly cooked fresh peas, with lots of butter. And with Beth's help they had made a pie the day before that just had to be heated through in the outdoor oven, it was huckleberry, which was Toby's second favorite. There was fresh whipped cream to go on top of that as well.

The more Glen ate, the better it sounded to have these people come and live with them and by the end of the meal he found himself smiling at the man who he had been ready to stab in the face a few hours earlier. It was funny the effects of shared work and a shared meal could have on a person. Maybe Hershel had been right about them coming here after all. In fact, he wouldn't mind coming back, even if it was just to stuff his face. After dinner Daryl and Beth gave them a tour and showed them all the animals. Beth told them about the sheep that had butted into them, but left out the part where they had been kissing. Iva had told them which goat they could take with them for Judith, and Daryl got a lead on it so they could take it back to the truck. It was an older girl and a good milker, but very sweet and calm. She would be easy for them to take care of and wasn't likely to cause any trouble when they needed to get her into the truck.

Toby would have liked to stay and visit longer but they had to stay ahead of the light. He hugged his family goodbye and lifted the goat up into the bed of the truck then climbed in after her. Maggie hugged her sister and Glen said his farewells before they drove off. Iva and Merle headed for the cabin without a word and Beth had some idea what their plans for the evening were. She had seen them touching a little under the table at dinner and giving each other that certain look. Honestly she was happy for them, but also a little jealous. She now had a week before she was going back to see her dad and even though she knew she was coming back after that, she felt like if something was going to happen between her and Daryl it better happen soon. Maggie had let her know Carol had offered to come and stay with the group here while she was staying at the prison and she knew how the woman felt about Daryl. Everyone knew, everyone it seemed, except Daryl.

Daryl was thinking this over as well. Beth was going back, and he knew that Zachary guy who liked her was back there. In fact, Daryl had been surprised that little shit didn't show up here today trying to make some time with her. He was thinking if he wanted to make a move, he better do it now, before she went back and forgot about him. Iva had cleaned up after dinner, but there was still half a bottle of hard apple cider left on the counter. Funny Iva refused to drink commercially bottled wine or liquor but she had been making and drinking that stuff, which was just as strong. He grabbed the cider and a couple empty mason jars that they used for drinking glasses and looked at Beth.

"Think we better avoid the house for a while," he said, holding up the bottle. "Lets go sit behind the barn. No sheep allowed this time."


	25. Chapter 25

****Could anyone tell I was super hungry while I was writing that last chapter? No story is complete without a little #foodporn. Remember this story is rated M for mature. As always I own nothing related to the walking dead.****

Iva and Merle

They had made love gently, being mindful of her ribs. He had been a little nervous that he might hurt her, all her bruises still looked dark and bloody and were tender to the touch. Looking at them still made him angry, even though he knew the men who made them were all long past dead. Willing those thoughts away, he had rolled on his back and pulled her on top so she could go at her own pace. Iva wasn't used to taking control but she found herself enjoying it, rocking her hips slowly and hearing the soft noises he made in response. _I am making him do that. _She had tried to go easy, but passion has a way of taking over and when she came she had been holding her ribs and gasping for breath but enjoying herself anyway. He rocked up into her a few more times and then made the noises she knew meant he had also found his release.

"You alright there kitten?," he asked her. She nodded but didn't anwser since she was still a little short of breath. He pulled the woman close and held her while he felt her body slowly relax and her breathing return to normal. Rubbing her skin softly with his hand he found himself getting aroused again. The last week aside, they had been going at it everyday, sometimes twice and a whole week without had seemed much longer than it was. There was no way a second round was happening here tonight though, not after she had barely been able to breathe after the first one. He decided he better get up and go have a piss instead before he started working with a boner and no where to put it.

Iva lay in bed rubbing her ribs and stomach a little, still feeling a little sad for the baby that she lost but not feeling near as bad as she had the other day. She had a good life here, and more babies could always be made and had. Maybe it would be best if they were settled down in their new home first anyway. Everyone she had met so far from that group she had liked and even that very angry man had come today and turned out not to be so bad after all. She heard Merle's steps on the porch and moved back over to make room for him in the bed. There was something she had been wondering about and she had been waiting for an opportunity to ask him about it.

"Daryl like Beth?," she asked him. He huffed a little. His brother's love life or lack thereof wasn't something he wanted to discuss, especially when he was naked in bed with his woman. He gave a shrug.

"I guess he likes her fine," he said, hoping that would end the conversation.

"Beth like Daryl," she informed him, "like him for husband." This wasn't precisely news. It was obvious that Beth had the hots for his brother, why Daryl wasn't doing anything about it was beyond him. The girl was a little flat chested and too quiet for Merle's taste but she had a pretty enough face. At any rate, beggars can't be choosers and it was the end of the damn world for fucks sake. He wondered where Iva was going with this, if she wanted him to play cupid for his brother that was not going to be happening.

"What english do when woman like man?," she asked. That question was a relief to Merle, she was just trying to understand dating and what it was. From what she explained to him before, he knew people where she grew up did not date. If a man had an interest in a woman, he talked with her father and if they could come to some agreement, a marriage took place. The woman in question may or may not be consulted on the matter and was expected to do as she was bid. Iva had been a very pretty girl and her father had been approached many times before she was even a woman. He had given her to a man that he had done much business with over the years. A man he knew to be kind and gentle and rich by the standards of their community. She had not been asked her opinion on the matter but she had not been upset when she was told. The man was very nice, she liked him, and he had been bringing her small gifts and toys whenever he came to see her father since she was a small girl. The concept of dating was foriegn to her and she had been surprised to find out so many of Daryl's people were unmarried. Merle lay back and tried to think of how to explain things to her.

"If two people like each other a little, they spend time together and see if they like each other more. They don't ask permission from the father until later and maybe not at all," he explained. She thought this over for a minute then suddenly it dawned on her. Thats what the two of them had done. She had no father to ask anymore so she had done as she pleased.

"Iva like," she told the man, turning to rub her hand up his chest, "Iva keep. No permission." He laughed, now she was getting it. He had liked the part about keeping him too. Just because he was the first man she had met, didn't mean he was the only one she would ever want to get to know and he worried sometimes about losing her to someone younger and stronger. Someone with two hands.


	26. Chapter 26

****This story is rated M for mature.****

Daryl and Beth

Getting Beth to go behind the barn with him had been easy. Figuring out what to do with her now was another matter. Daryl had been with women before. Usually they were friends of the women his brother picked up from wherever it was that he picked up women. They were usually biker sluts, drunks, drug addicts or once in a while a nicer seeming girl that had a thing for bad boys. These girls did all the work, and there was no question as to why they were at his place or whether or not they wanted to have sex. And he didn't have to worry about getting rid of them because Merle enjoyed throwing bitches out once he was done with them. Daryl had a few girlfriends but they were really more like girls he just happened to have slept with multiple times.

Beth was different. She was clean and pretty and took care of her father. And he knew her father, which seemed strange since he had never met the father of any other girl he slept with. Daryl had a lot of respect for Hershel and now he was thinking about the man and how little he thought he might like his youngest daughter getting fucked behind a barn by the likes of him. He had also been concerned about her age, which seemed stupid now since his brother was with Iva who was just as young. Out of all the things that could go wrong, he was most concerned that it might go right. And then something else terrible might happen and she would be gone. Even before the turn life was just easier when you only had yourself to worry about. Easier but lonely.

Beth was sitting on the small bench next to Daryl. She was wearing shorts and had her legs crossed, swinging one bare leg back and forth nervously. Daryl had seemed so eager to get her back here and now it seeemed like he didn't even want to talk to her. She finished what was in her glass and held it out for more. Now this drink, she could enjoy. Because of how her father felt about it, Beth had never had a drink before this week. A few days ago, Merle had been out on the porch with the dog at his feet and the cat in his lap, sipping on a bottle of whisky. When he saw Beth watching him with an inquisitive eye, he had offered her a swig. She had taken a large gulp and come up coughing and choking. He had laughed and gave her a few whacks on the back. Beth didn't know how he drank that stuff, to her it tasted like gasoline. She watched Iva after that, and noticed the woman only drank hard cider and fruit wine she had made herself. Iva had it right, she thought, this cider was much better than whiskey. If she had watched closer she would have noticed that the other woman only had one small glass of the stuff, with her dinner. Homemade cider, while delicious, was much stronger than it tasted.

Beth took another sip, she was feeling less nervous already. She uncrossed her legs and moved a little closer to the man, so that they were sitting so close their thighs were touching. He shifted his arm so it was on the back of the bench behind her. Beth took this as an invitation to lean in a little more and she put her hand lightly on his leg. Come on come on, she thought, do something, anything. Maybe he didn't want her here, sitting so close, he sure wasn't acting like he liked it. Beth had only had one real boyfriend, which had been Jimmy. All she had to do was get close to him and he had been grabbing every part of her body he could. Softly, she felt the gentle pressure of Daryl's arm on her back as he wrapped it around her, rubbing her upper arm up and down with his hand. Finally, she thought, touching her arm wasn't much but it was better than nothing.

Beth swigged the last of her drink down and set the empty cup on the bench beside her. The liquid was making her brave. She cuddled in closer and rested her head on his shoulder, burying her face in his neck and planting a soft kiss there. He smelled a bit fishy but she found she didn't mind too much. She was glad she had washed up earlier after their vegetable hunt in the woods. Beth heard at soft click, as Daryl set his glass down on the ground next to the now empty bottle. Then she felt his arms around her as he shifted her up into his lap. His mouth was on her neck and collar bone before she dipped her head down pressed her mouth to his.

Daryl kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tightly to him. He forgot all about the trepidations he had about Beth and her age and her dad and her questionable virginity and kissed her. He felt her lips part and deepened his kiss, his hand on the back of her neck. The other hand trailed up her leg to her waist and cupped her small breast, rubbing the nipple through her shirt. She moaned and sucked his tounge hard, then her hands came loose from around his and she pushed the straps of her tank top down and slipped her arms through, pushing the shirt down so it was scrunched up around her waist. The top had a built in bra, which was all she really needed, so she was naked now from the waist up. Her head was spinning from the kissing and the alcohol.

Daryl shifted her so she was facing him, with one of her knees on the bench on either side of his lap. He caught her by the waist and lifted her up and forward so he could rub his face into her breasts. They were small but perky with tiny upturned pink nipples. He gripped her ass and pulled her hips against his chest, then took her nipples into his mouth one at a time, sucking them until he felt her hips start to rock against him. Her hands were in his hair and she was making soft little moaning noises. Suddenly she felt herself lifted and stood up on the ground. Daryl took her hand and led her into the barn. Most of the stalls were used by the animals but they had one where they kept the clean hay. He sat down heavily, pulling her down with him and sending one of the barn cats streaking away with a yowl of protest.

She lay down, rolling and pulling him on top, kissing and kissing him. Her shorts were hiking up her thighs and she could feel him through the soft denim, rocking her hips and squirming a little, trying to get closer. Daryl sat up a little. He had hay in his mouth and eye. Looking down at Beth, he saw the mess was all in her hair and likely all over her back. If this was going down, he should grab a horse blanket from the barn closet. Nothing says unsexy like hay in your ass crack.

"Hold on," Daryl told her, "Lemme get a blanket." Beth nodded even though she didn't really care about a blanket. She lay back on the hay and watched him hop up and take off for the closet at the front of the barn. The hay was soft and smelled good. She lay back and closed her eyes, rubbing her arms softly and thinking about everything she wanted the man to do to her, some of which she only had vague ideas of.

Daryl poked inside the large closet. There was animal feed, more animal feed, saddles, horse leads, extra feed buckets but where was the fucking blankets. He had seen Iva put picinic blankets and riding blankets away in here. The way that woman organized things drove him absolutely crazy. Basically there was no rhyme or reason to it, and she just memorized where each individual item was. Aha, there the freaking blankets were, up on the very top shelf above the saddles. He grabbed the cleanest looking one and took off for the back of the barn.

"I found the...," he started to say. Then he stopped and started laughing. Beth was lying in the hay, hair a tangled mess, tits out, hands behind her head, snoring like a fucking freight train. To see the normally so demure and composed girl looking so disheveled was just too much. He stepped closer and gave her an expiremental nudge with his boot. She didn't even flinch one inch and just kept right on sleeping away. _You have got to be kidding me right now. _Well, he thought, there was nothing to be done about the situation now. No more alcohol for Beth. If she was really that drunk, he was relieved that she had passed out before anything more happened. Forcing himself on drunk teenage girls wasn't really his style. Daryl leaned down and yanked her shirt up as best he could so at least her breasts weren't just hanging out all over the place, then he lay down and covered them both up with the blanket. Curled up beside her warm body, the hard work and the heat of the day caught up with him quickly and soon he was snoring along beside her.

The next morning, Beth sat on the porch nursing her very first hangover. Iva and Daryl had been up collecting eggs and doing the milking while he tried talking her into making him what he wanted for breakfast. Beth couldn't even think about food the way her head was pounding. Merle came out of the house and handed her some coffee with lots of cream and sugar. He gave her an empathetic pat on the head and stalked off down to help with the chickens. He and Daryl had been talking about doing some hunting today, although there was still the issue of leaving the girls here alone while Iva wasn't fully recovered. Of course Iva didn't seem worried, pain in ass woman never worried about anything. Beth had mentioned to him privately that Iva had been ready to take off without them again yesterday. She wasn't even going to say where she was going. He didn't know how to get it through that girl's thick skull that she needed to take a little more interest in her own safety. With the fences and the guns and the dog, the girls should be safe enough here for the better part of an afternoon, as long as they didn't go scampering off on some new deadly adventure.

"Hunting today?," Daryl asked, scooping some vegetable scraps out of a bowl and tossing them in for the greedy birds.

"Hell yes," Merle replied. Other than leaving the girls alone, hunting with his brother sounded great. He wanted to get him alone anyway so he could ask him about where he and the little princess had been all night long. Them sneaking back into the cabin in the very early morning had not escaped Merle. If they wanted to get their fuck on, there was no reason to be all shy and sneaky about it. Him and Iva didn't care where or whether or not they plowed it. Plus two air mattresses took up a lot of floor space in the cabin, be nice if they could put one of them away.

"Merle and Daryl go hunt?," Iva asked, opening up the door to the ducks coop so they could run around and forage some food for themselves today. "Get fat deer." This made both boys smile, there wasn't really such thing as a fat deer but they would try for a big one, and hopefully a doe with a good amount of meat on her. Hunting bucks with big racks was for asshole trophy hunters, when you were hunting for the dinner table, a doe was better. "Use blue trail."

"Blue trail," Daryl repeated. This was the first he had heard of any hunting trails. Merle, on the other hand was more than well aware of the young woman's hunting techniques.

"Those colored marks on the trees," he explained to Daryl, "each one ends in a salt lick and a pile of fruit and scraps." While Daryl would not lower himself to hunting that way, he had to admit the girl was ingenious. It wasn't a wonder anymore how the girl had made it alone all that time with only a kid for a companion. She made the most with what she had and what she needed she found a way to get.

"Real hunters don't need to bait the deer," Merle told her. She shrugged and continued on with her work. If he wanted to run all over hell and back chasing deer instead of letting them come to him, he was more than welcome to do so. He watched her a minute. She was unshakable. Most people would have been angry if someone insulted their hunting methods, but Iva just always carried right on, letting whatever he said roll off her back like water on the ducks. Daryl liked her. She didn't take any of shit from his brother but didn't seem to feel the need to fight with him to prove herself either. From what Daryl had seen so far, she seemed to be a calming influence on the man. His brother still got angry, but he didn't have that raging hungry look in his eyes all the time anymore. Daryl had seen the man drinking since they had been there, but he hadn't been drinking himself into a rage and hadn't been drinking everyday either. He didn't want to get too hopeful, when it came to Merle everything could change without notice, but for now he was happy to have his brother back.

The guys got their gear on, ready for their short hunting trip. Beth was feeling a little better after sipping her coffee and she had plans to help Iva make cheese today. Mozerella is what the plan was today, the first flush of ripe tomatoes had come in and according to Iva the only way to eat them was with fresh cheese and basil. And hopefully some vension steaks if the guys got lucky, but Beth saw Iva had taken a goat shank out of the freezer just in case.

The cheese was at the stage where it needed to sit a while to form curds, so the girls were at the table working on the tedious task of getting all the green stems off the petals of the dandelions. The green bits were bitter and no good for making jelly or wine. Iva had dried them a while in the dehydrator to make them pull apart easier, but it was still a job that could only be done one flower at a time. She had enough now for her salve and jelly, and the girls were now working on filling up a giant crock that Iva usually used to make kraut. Merle had said he wanted to make wine. It seemed his dad had taught him how, which Iva was surprised about since he never said much about the man. She was interested to see him make it though. Growing up, they did make some wine and cider, but the fermenting was more like just another form of preserving food. They didn't make it or drink it in order to get drunk, although her first husband had drank more than most to help with the pain of his arthritis.

"Beth and Daryl make fuck?," Iva asked the other girl. Beth smiled, you could really tell where Iva had been learning her english. He may or may not be the evil man that Maggie and Glen had made him out to be, but there was no question that Merle had a foul mouth.

"Make love," Beth corrected her. Iva was not to be distracted however, from the subject at hand.

"Beth and Daryl make love?," she asked. Beth shook her head.

"No," she admitted, "we kissed though." Iva liked the sound of that, it sounded promising.

"Daryl make good kiss?," she asked. Beth thought about it. She wasn't really an expert on kissing, and she had been more than a little drunk. One thing she was sure of though, she wanted to kiss him again. She nodded.

"Yes, he is a good kisser," she said, then asked something she had wondered about for a while, "what about Merle? Is he a good kisser?" Iva anwsered right away. Beth could tell the woman didn't need a minute to think about that.

"Yes, kiss mouth, I like. And...," the woman paused now. Beth could tell she was about to say something else and she wanted to know what it was. Beth gestured for her to continue and she did, a little color rising to her cheeks now. "and make kiss other place. I like."

"Like where," Beth asked. This was really getting good now. Beth knew the other girl was about her age, but she also knew she had a lot more sexual experience. Beth didn't even really know what to expect when it came to sex and she was curious. Iva blushed a little more now and pointed to her breasts and then between her legs.

"Good kisser," she said and they both broke out in laughter. Iva was happy to see that Beth didn't seem that shocked. She had not known if that was something all english men did, or if only Merle did it, and had not been sure if it was appropriate to mention. "Daryl make kiss other place?"

"Well," Beth said, and then pointed to her breasts, "here."

"Next time tell Daryl make kiss there," Iva told the girl, pointing to Beth's crotch and than adding confidently, "you like better." Beth felt herself blushing a little now. The thought of telling Daryl to do anything, let alone that, was unfathomable to her. The look on Beth's face set them both off giggling again. They almost didn't notice Sandy was up and suddenly heading towards the gate.

Beth was afraid for a moment, but relieved when she saw it was the truck from the prison. The girls ran over to the gate and Iva shooed the guinea hens away while Beth opened it up for them. It was a strange combination of people and they looked concerned. Something was wrong back at the prison. She could see Tyreese was driving, with Carol riding shotgun and Carl smooshed in the middle. Carol leaped out first.

"Its your dad," she said to Beth, "he may have had a heart attack. You need to come now." Beth felt her heart drop into her stomach. She needed to leave now, but she didn't want Iva left here alone. Beth had promised the boys, and Merle in particular, that she would keep an eye on the injured young woman.

"The guys are out hunting," Beth told Carol, "I can't leave Iva here alone." Carol thought about this quickly.

"I can stay here," she offered, "you go to your dad." Beth hugged her gratefully and took her place in the truck. She had turned to say goodbye and sorry to Iva, but Iva had urged her to hurry up and go to her father. Iva liked the man very much and hoped he was alright. Tyreese called out the window.

"Leave the radio on," he said, "we will call when we know something." Carol nodded and stepped back so Iva could close the gate. Then both women waved until the truck was out of sight.


	27. Chapter 27

Nevaeh

The men came through the gate, swinging a large deer between them. Daryl noticed right away that Beth was conspicuously absent and for some reason Carol was here. His first thought was that she must have been upset about what happened the night before. She must have called her dad or Rick to come get her. Or maybe something bad happened to her, or maybe or maybe.

"Its Hershel," Carol told him, trying to stay out of the way of the large dead deer, "He collapsed while he was helping Tyreese build a chicken coop. Then he didn't wake up. In case theres something really wrong, we thought Beth should be there." Daryl felt relieved then felt a little bad for feeling so relieved. Hopefully there wasn't anything too wrong with Hershel, not that there was anything he could do about it if there was. He was glad Beth hadn't left because of him. "They are going to call on the walkies when they know something," she added, touching him on his shoulder.

Iva felt awful about the whole thing. She had wanted to go to the prison to see if there was anything she could do for the man, but Carol had assured her there was a _real _doctor there taking good care of him already. Carol understood the girl knew some basic herbal remedies but felt she was too young to have any real healing skills. If she went galavanting down to the prison trying to help, she would probably just get in the way. Merle and Daryl wrestled the deer up onto the table where they did the butchering and Carol was taken of guard to see Merle step back and Iva step in. Her and Daryl began skinning the deer together.

There was a large venison roast slow cooking over a low flame and the rest had been cut into reasonably sized pieces and put in either the fridge or freezer. Daryl would have prefered to let it hang a day or two first, but this time of year the flies would get to it for sure. Iva planned to dry a lot of it into jerky, can some into stew beef, get some more brining for the venison version of corned beef and of course they would eat the choicest parts fresh in the next few days.

Daryl had washed most off the blood and suggested to Carol that he could show her around so she could see the animals. She quickly accepted even though Iva had really already shown her everything. Before they could leave Carol heard the walkie from the porch start to beep and make its alert noises that meant someone was calling. Merle was heading up from the kitchen but Carol got there first and snatched it up quickly.

"Hello, its Carol. Over."

"This is Rick. Hershel is fine. Dr. S thinks he just had heat stroke. Over."

"Good. Is Beth staying? Over."

"Yes. She wants to stay the week and come back on the next visit. Are you fine to stay there? Over."

Yes. I can stay. Over."

"See you in a week then. Over and Out."

"Over and Out." Carol breathed a sigh of relief. Hershel meant a lot to all of them and she was glad he was going to be alright. For selfish reasons, she was glad Beth was staying away for the week and she was staying here. She turned to find Merle glaring at her before he turned and headed back to the kitchen to tell Iva the news. This was going to be one long week with that nosy grey haired bitch hanging around. She was already running up there grabbing the walkie like she ran the fucking place. He would have much rather have the little princess around. She could be a bit of a crybaby but he liked her all the same.

Daryl set off towards the back lot with Carol, chatting a little about Hershel and how good it was that he would be alright. They stopped by the side pasture near the fence, watching some of the little goats play. There was one little one that you could pick out easily from the rest. Not only did he have a more unusual color pattern, but he was always running around with much more energy than the rest. He leaped high into the air, sometimes landing on the other small goats and knocking them over. Then he ran in big circles making loud baby goat noises to entertain himself. Carol laughed at him and tried to offer him a handful of grass which he didn't seem interested in. Without warning, Daryl suddenly felt her arms go around him, her mouth near his ear.

"Don't look," she cautioned, "theres someone up in the pecan tree on the othe side of the fence watching us." Daryl nodded and then made a loud announcement for the benefit of the spy.

"Got to go take a shit," he said, "be back in a bit." Carol took this to mean she was to stay here and keep an eye on the person, while he got Merle and went around the outside of the fence. Carol stood her ground, foot on the picket fence that held the animals away from the gardens. She watched the person out of the corner of her eye. With the leaves in the way it was hard to tell if it was even a man or a woman, let alone age or size. Plus she didn't want to stare, or the person might know they had been spotted.

A few minutes later she saw Daryl and Merle come around the outside of the fence. Merle kicked at the tree.

"We see ya," he hollered, "come on down, nice and easy." Carol could see some motion in the tree now. A girl dropped down a few feet away from the man and tried to run but Daryl caught her by the back of the shirt and tossed her onto the ground in front of him.

"Who you spying on us for?," he demanded. The girl looked to be about Carl's age. She was filthy and looked hungry. Using her feet, she clawed the ground, scooting herself away from them and looking for her chance to escape. Merle saw her looking around behind her to see if there was anyone else there. Oh no you fucking don't he thought, and stepped forward grabbing ahold of her by the upper part of her arm.

"Going somewhere," he asked. The girl aimed a kick at his shin which he easily dodged.

"Lemme go," she finally said, struggling and trying to pull away. Daryl stepped forward and grabbed her other arm, which was bone skinny. If she was part of another group, they clearly weren't feeding her. The men marched her around the fence line and through the front gate, which Iva opened and closed behind them. Sandy ran up barking and the girl aimed a kick at the dog as well. Merle grabbed the girl harder now pulling her close and leaning down into her face.

"You try treating my dog like that again and thats how I am going to treat you," he warned her. Now the girl had tears in her eyes. Daryl was feeling a little bad, but they needed to find out if she was spying for another group that knew where they were. The boys marched her up into the cabin where she wouldn't be able to dash off again so easy. Merle kicked one of the dining chairs out from the table and deposited her into it.

"You try and fucking run and I will tie you to that chair," he said. The girl nodded, looking up at him with big scared eyes. She had tightly curled black hair that looked like it may have once been pretty but now was a matted dirty mess. Her skin was amber colored, but was shocking was her eyes. They were big and wide with a sight almond shape and they were the brightest shade of green he had ever seen. She looked from one man to the other, then glanced quickly towards the bed and started crying more. Iva and Carol were inside the doorway now, staring at the girl. Iva moved across the cabin and poured the girl a cold glass of water from the fridge and handed it to her, then stepped back and resumed her post at the doorway.

Nevaeh observed the girl, guessing she was a little older than herself. She was also beat to holy hell. Maybe these men had done that to the girl, and maybe they planned to do the same to her. The girl didn't seem afraid of the men though. Nevaeh had seen the older man touch the girl gently on the arm after she handed her the water. Daryl let the girl drink the water down, then he held his hand out for the glass. Getting beat in the head with a mason jar by a frightened girl was not on the menu today. She handed it over and he returned it to the kitchen. Then he asked his question again.

"Who are you spying on us for," he asked, more calmly this time. The girl shook her head vigorously.

"Nobody," she said, "Nobody."

"What the hell you spying on us for then," Merle demanded.

"I was hungry," the girl admitted, "I thought you had food." Instinct told him the girl was telling the truth. If she was with anyone else out there, it wasn't a well organized group, thats for sure.

"How did you get around here," he asked more gently.

"I was with some men," she said, "they took me when they killed my family. Then someone killed them." Now this was making a little more sense, Merle thought.

"We killed them," he told the girl. She stared up at him now, feeling more confident.

"Good," she said. Then looking at the older girl that had handed her the water she took a guess as to what happened. "They did that to her, didn't they?" Iva nodded. Nevaeh relaxed a little. If these men had killed those other men to protect the girl maybe they weren't so bad. They didn't have her on the bed raping her yet, so that must not have been why they brought her in here. Iva had enough now, she felt bad for the girl and she didn't want Merle or his brother yelling at her anymore. She stepped forward and took the girl by the hand. Merle thought to stop her for minute but he could tell she wasn't in a mood to be refused.

Iva walked the girl out to the picnic table and sat her down. Carol had filled the glass from inside with more water and brought it out, handing it to the girl. She gulped it down same as the last one, so Carl just went in and brought out the whole pitcher. Iva made the girl a plate. The roast needed a little longer, so she cut off a large slice from the outside where it was already cooked through. She cut off a large hunk of bread from the loaf she had made earlier and put it on a plate with the meat. She grabbed a handful of tomatoes her and Beth had picked and washed earlier and added those as well. She set it down in front of the girl, who was looking at her.

"This is all for me?," she asked. Iva nodded. The girl didn't need to be told twice. She dug in devouring the food, shoveling as much as she could into her mouth at once. Iva sidestepped closer to Merle with a small smile.

"When Toby come," she said, "he eat like that." Merle laughed, from what he had seen, Toby still ate like that. Once the girl had been fed, like a dog she now showed no further interest in trying to escape. Merle kept his eye on her anyway. If life had taught him anything, it was that people were not always what they seemed and no one deserved trust until after they earned it. Iva got some clothes from inside and led the girl over to the rain barrel so she could get cleaned up and little. Carol brought a comb out and started trying to help with her hair but it was a lost cause. She didn't think a team of hairstylists armed with a gallon of detangler could have made a dent in that mess even if they had a week.

"Im going to have to get the scissors," Carol warned the girl, who they knew now was named Nevaeh. Heaven spelled backwards she had told them. The girl shrugged, after being raped and beaten and starved for the last two months, losing her once prized hair didn't seem so bad. And it had been itching like there were fleas in there anyway. Now that the men were away and she was alone with just the woman, Nevaeh felt more comfortable. She quietly began telling them her story, hunks of her hair falling and blowing around her like fall leaves.

When the dead started coming, her family had headed for church. It just seemed like the safest place to go, a comforting place. They had just had their local food drive, so they knew there was food available there as well. But the church had been locked. When the dead came there, many people had been killed, but her dad and the dad of one of her friends had fought them off. After that they had stayed at a house on the lake. They had used a boat to go from house to house gathering food a supplies. Things were fine, and they had lived there safely for some time. Then one day the men came. They had given no warning, just burst in a started shooting. The men they killed right away, but the women they had other plans for. Nevaeh and her friend Cassie they had taken with them and when her mom and sister tried to stop them, they had kicked them to death in front of her.

Cassie had gotten ahold of a sharp piece of glass and slit her wrists that night after the men had gotten done with her. They kept Nevaeh tied up at first but after a few weeks they didn't bother anymore. She was deeply ashamed that she had many chances to escape and stayed with the men because she was more scared to be on her own. Iva felt for the girl, and felt some of the same shame over her second husband. She had ran away from him several times, but had always gone back. Then he just beat her harder and eventually she quit running. Soon Nevaeh felt soft tears falling down on her along with the hair.

After the new girl was cleaned up to Carol's liking, they took her into the kitchen with them to make dinner. The guys were up on the porch sipping on some cider while the cat circled them, rubbing her face and sides on their legs and looking for some attention. Iva took the roast off with Carols help to lift it and they set in on the cutting board to rest a while. Carol went inside to get the cheese they had made earlier and they used it to make a salad with lots of fresh greens and cherry tomatoes from the garden. Everyone sat down to eat and Nevaeh was surprised to be given another plate. This was more food than she had eaten in one day in longer than she could remember.

"Better get it while the gettin's good," Daryl told the girl, shoveling his food in like a pig and showing her how it was done.

"Tastes better if you chew it," Carol corrected. Merle gave a little snort. Last thing they needed around here was lessons on table manners, even if his brother did eat like a pig. Carol ignored him.

Later that night, everyone was lying down sleeping. Merle was tossing and turning and decided to go out on the porch for a smoke. The cat got up and followed him, rubbing around his legs and almost tripping him. He sat down and lit up, thinking a little about the day and their new visitors. He heard a soft tread and then hands on him, rubbing his shoulders. Iva always knew when he couldn't sleep, he thought. Next thing he knew the girl was in his lap, kissing him. This wasn't Iva, it was that little fucking kid, he realized. He stood up quickly, spilling the girl onto the wooden boards of the deck.

"What in the hell ya think yer doing," he asked her. She looked scared again, and that made him mad. She was the one that came out here bothering him and trying to get him into trouble, now she was trying to play all innocent.

"Nnn nnn nothing," she stammered, "I just want to be allowed to stay here." She had been here eating their food and using their things and she knew that wouldn't last forever. Eventually they would expect something in return. Her recent experiences had taught her that it would go easier for her and be less painful if she didn't fight. Merle felt his anger dissipate.

"Look here," he said squatting down in front of her, "if you want to stay here, you just need to pull your weight by helping with the chores. Ya don't owe me that ya hear." The girl nodded. "Now get yer ass back to bed and stay there." She got up and took off back into the house. Ought to have told her if she wanted to stay she had to go climb in bed with Daryl, he thought wickedly. Now that would have been funny.


	28. Chapter 28

One month out

Even with everyone pitching in, it had taken about a month to build the first barn. They had originally thought to construct one huge building, but two medium sized ones ended up being the more practical option. There was a fence to keep the animals where they needed to be, and a long wide trench had been dug outside the main fence of the prison, at Merle's insistence. Instead of wasting people stabbing walkers at the fence all day, they could just let them fall into the large pits and set them on fire later.

Now the question was becoming how they were going to get the animals to the prison. Iva wanted to send the sheep over first, not as many of them needed to be milked and so they were easier to take care of. Toby would be there, and Nevaeh, who was now also a trusted animal caretaker. The two of them could watch after the sheep while the barn for the goats was being built, and not having to care for all the animals would give Iva more time to preserve her garden and work on getting other things ready to go. Hershel and Maggie had overseen all the planting of the seeds she had given them, and the garden area at the prison was looking much more impressive. Even though it wouldn't feed them right now, Hershel was pushing hard for them to put in more plants like strawberries and asparagus that would grow back year after year with little maintenance.

Rick was coming today to help, along with Maggie and Glen, Toby and Nevaeh, and Carl. Beth, Daryl and of course Iva and Merle were at the cabin already. They had toyed with the idea of driving the animals back to the prison one or two at a time, but they just didn't have the gas. No one wanted to say, but none of them were that eager to be stuck in a sedan with an angry barnyard animal either.

They were going to move the animals to the prison the same way Iva had gotten them to the cabin, by driving them there on foot with the help of the dog and the horses. Sheep were herd animals, unless spooked or scared, they would follow the lead ewe and the people could walk on the outside, spread out to keep any stragglers from wandering off and keep the walkers from getting to them. Beth was going to ride the horse, with the ewe teathered to the saddle, and Iva was going to walk beside them, leading an especially naughty ram on a rope to keep him from doing any of his favorite activities. These pastimes included ramming into Merle, following the man and butting him again, and if he couldn't find his favorite victim, he would butt his head into Daryl and knock him down instead. Merle had suggested several times that he would make good lambchops but Iva wouldn't hear of it. He was her best stud ram and without fail impregnanted every ewe she put in his pen.

Merle heard the truck pull up, but they left it a little ways back to leave room the get the animals out of the gate. He could tell everyone was pretty geared up for todays activities and they hurried down to the gate for Iva to let them in. Maggie noticed the horse was saddled up ready to go, Iva and Merle looked ready to go but she didn't see her sister anywhere.

"Wheres Beth?," she asked. Iva pointed over towards the cabin.

"Beth and Daryl use bed," she said. Maggie stalked off towards the cabin. That girl really needed to practice her english, she thought, she was making it seem like there was something going on between Beth and Daryl. When she approached the screen door of the cabin, with Glen close behind her, she could already hear noises coming from inside. What she saw inside made her go pale white and she spun around, heading back towards the gate. Maggie looked totally pissed and Glen looked like he thought this was pretty funny, but didn't want to laugh because Maggie was upset. Glen wasn't exactly the most sexually experienced man of the group, but he could tell you one thing. Any girl riding the dick like that, it sure wasn't her first time.

"What the hell, are they coming or not," Merle asked. He was getting impatient. This drew some laughter from Glen which he tried to turn into a cough. Merle looked at the man. "Are they fucking in there?" Glen nodded. "For god damn christ sake, they said they were getting dressed to leave." Merle stomped off towards the house and barged inside. Everyone could hear him yelling. _Knock it off. Everybodys out there wating on you in here getting your fuckin' rocks off. Aint no point coverin up yer tiny ass titties sweetheart when I already saw his finger in yer ass. _This was followed by some more assorted yelling and Merle darting out the door, ducking a boot that was being launched at his head. He walked back over to where the rest of the group was standing. Rick and Glen were trying to control themselves, but Toby and Nevaeh were about on the ground, laughing hysterically and gripping their sides.

"They'll be out in a minute," Merle declared. As promised, Beth and Daryl appeared a few minutes later, their faces red and flushed.

"Is everyone ready?," Rick asked. He got nods all around. Iva was a little nervous but they had gone over everything a thousand times already. A few people said silent prayers and most everyone took a few deep breaths. Beth mounted up on the horse. Her second ride of the day, Merle thought to himself. He considered pointing this out to the girl but then reconsidered given the circumstances. He could always give her a hard time later. Iva went to the pen and opened the small gate, she already had the two main sheep tied up on harnesses so she led them out, holding the ropes. Sandy dashed in and made sure the sheep towards the back of the enclosure got moving in the right direction. Everything seemed to be going well but the real test would be leaving the safety of the camp.

Toby got the gate, he and Nevaeh were in charge of holding up the rear of the group. Beth held the reins of the horse and started off feeling nervous. What they were doing was dangerous and it made her more scared to be up on the horse in front of everyone. She looked for Daryl but couldn't find him in the throng. Iva was next to her, walking with her sheep's rope tied to her belt so her hands were free to use her bow. The ropes were really just a precaution, she knew the animals would stay with her. She had raised every single one of them up from tiny lambs. For everyone else there was a bit of a learning curve, trying to stay as close as they could, but far enough away to let the dog do her job. In the end they had a few scary moments, Carl had fallen while trying to stab a walker and Maggie had to yank the thing off of him, but everyone made it to the prison in one piece. Everyone that lived there came out to watch them bring the animals in, and when the gate closed after the last one, everyone clapped and cheered.

Iva had not seen the barn yet, only heard about it, and she was impressed with what they had done. This was as big as her other barn and it was only for the sheep. She would be able to let more of her lambs grow big for breeding stock and milking. Then she was off to check on the chickens she had sent over. The coops looked great and all her girls, plus one rooster, looked fat and happy. Rick came out with Judith, who was also looking happy. She had taken well to the goats milk and applesauce Iva had sent for her. Iva reached out and took the baby into her arms, Judith pleased as ever immediatley went for the woman's hair, grabbing a glorious chunk of her long ponytail and waving it about in the air like a trophy. Rick thanked the woman again for the goat. There was no need for him to thank her again, he thanked her practically every time she saw him. And what she had done, she had done for the baby, not for his gratitude.

"No thanks," she told the man, smiling at him warmly, "I do for baby. See baby get big, best thanks." Rick noticed the woman was no longer talking about herself in the third person, which he thought was too bad. It had been one of her more endearing traits. Iva started feeling a little uncomfortable, the way he was looking at her holding his baby was soft and loving. She had not seen the man look at anyone like that before. She shoved the baby back at him and untangled herself from her grasp.

"Got to check sheep," she said before quickly running off. He watched her go. There was no doubt that she was an attractive girl, with her long legs and arms, she reminded him a little of Lori when they had both been a lot younger. He knew she was with Daryl's brother, but you never could tell what the future might hold. Hurrying down to the area where the sheep were milling about, Iva really did want to check them over. She looked at each one, giving them some attention and saying her goodbyes, just for now of course. Merle stood against the fence watching her with some amusement. Hershel took the place beside him.

"Shes very protective over those animals," he said to Merle. Merle nodded. It was known that Iva took it just slightly overboard when it came to her fur babies. Hershel grinned bigger now and told the man, "Just wait until she has a baby." Merle choked a little on the water he was drinking and Hershel patted him on the back. Iva having a baby was not something he needed in his head right now. She hadn't bled again since she lost the last one and it wasn't to hard to deduce that she was likely pregnant again. "Is she already pregnant again?" Hershel asked. Merle hadn't known that Beth had told her father about that.

"Does everyone know about that?," he asked.

"No, Beth just told me," Hershel anwsered, "she was worried about Iva."

"Shes pregnant again," Merle told him. Everyone would know soon enough anyway. And pretending it wasn't true wasn't going to help anything.

"Your first?," Hershel asked. To be fair he really didn't know much about the man at all.

"That I know of," Merle anwsered, making the other man laugh.

"Being a father had been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life," Hershel said, looking across the field at his two daughters and remembering back when they were just small babies he could hold in his arms. Now they were adults, with lives of their own, and maybe families of their own soon as well. Merle followed Hershel's gaze and saw the two Greene girls down there, trying to feed some hay to a small lamb. Then he thought about what he had seen Beth doing earlier with his brother. If that was his daughter he would have busted someones head in.

"God willing its a boy," he said, making Hershel laugh again.


	29. Chapter 29

****This is going to begin the second part of this story. Most of it is taking place between the break of seasons 3 and 4, leading up to the middle of season 4. Thanks to everyone reading and writing reviews, and as always I own nothing from the walking dead.****

Part 2

The Car

Iva stood in her empty cabin. It didn't really look like home anymore with nothing inside. Everything that could be used was already at the prison, even the water pump from under the house and the solar panels from the roof. They had even taken the wooden porch apart to build some raised garden beds. There were still some plants in the garden that they would come back for in about a month. Mostly winter squashes and the last of the tomatoes, which Iva had carefully mulched so they wouldn't dry out. She felt sad to be leaving the place that had been her home for so long.

It was here that she learrned to believe in herself, and that she could make it alone if she had to. She had survived most of a winter here alone, curled up with her dog in front of the fireplace. Then she had found Toby and they had filled the place up with their laughter. For the first time in her life she had fallen in love here, and she thought sadly, lost her baby here. She rubbed her hand softly over her stomach, it wasn't really getting round yet as much as it was just not so flat anymore. There was no screen door on the cabin anymore, it had been taken to the prison where it cold be put to some good use, but she heard a light tap on the doorframe.

"Time to go," Merle told her. He was standing outside the doorway, and since there was no porch there anymore she could only see him from the waist up. Iva took one last quick look around and headed out, where he gripped her waist and helped her down. She could have jumped down on her own, but she liked that he helped her anyway. He didn't blame her for being sad to leave, he had made a lot of good memories here as well. The man tried to think of something to say to make her feel better but nothing came to mind. She took his hand as the walked out to the car when suddenly she gripped him tightly and stopped walking.

Merle and his brother had taken the last few things back to the prison earlier using her horse cart. She had assumed they would come back with the cart to pick her up, not in a car. Iva had never ridden in a car before and she had no interest in starting today.

"Go back and get my horse," she told the man, "no car." Merle looked at the girl. What in the hell was wrong with her now. Had she really not ever ridden in a car before? He thought back to the time he had lived here and racked his brain for a time that she had. They had tranpsorted things back to the prison in a car, but he had always went with his brother or Beth. Any of the times that Iva had gone, they had taken the horse. When they drove the car here to get her he had not anticipated that it would be a problem. If she was afraid of cars she had never mentioned it before, and it was a stupid thing to be afraid of anyway.

"We are not going back for the damn horse," he told her, "you are just going to have to ride in the car." He had found if he used a very authoritive voice with her she would usually give in. Also they had been hauling shit all damn day, he was tired and not in the mood for this right now. Iva said nothing now but dropped his hand and started backing away from him. She wouldn't argue with him outright, but there was a fair chance she might take off running. Daryl walked over, having seen and heard what was developing.

"Its only a short ride, he said to the girl, trying to reason with her. "You can sit in the back and close your eyes." She shook her head and backed up some more. _She is going to take off running._ Pregnant or not pregnant, Iva ran like a goddamn gazelle and if she took off they were not going to catch her. Daryl was tired and all he wanted to do was go back home and get something to eat and lay his ass down in bed. The plans today did not involve chasing his brothers girlfriend all over hell and back and trying to talk her into going for a car ride. Which in his opinion she was being totally ridiculous about anyhow. He noticed his brother was edging around behind her. _So thats how this is going down. _

"We all ride in the car all the time and live to talk about it," Daryl said, stepping in a little closer. He reached in, making a lunge for her and missed. She turned to run and ran smack into Merle, who took a firm hold of her arm and started marching her towards the car, which wasn't easy since she was digging her heels in like a damn mule and trying to pull away from him. Daryl grabbed her other arm and she swung a kick at his skin, which connected, making him wince.

"Dont fucking hurt her," Merle warned him, "shes fucking pregnant." Daryl hadn't planned on hurting her anyway but she was getting in the damn car. They dragged her over and Daryl climbed in first, pulling her in behind him so she couldn't take off out the other side. Beth was standing by the driver's seat looking horrrified and Toby was by the trunk laughing like it was the funniest thing he ever saw and calling out to her. Come on Iva its just a car ride. Stop being such a big cry baby about it. I cant believe you kicked him! Dont let her run away or we will never see her again. This was the best entertainment he had seen all month.

"You're driving," Daryl yelled at Beth. She figured this was not the best time to mention that she didn't have a drivers license and climbed quickly behind the wheel.

"Stop laughing and open the gate," Merle hissed at Toby, shoving Iva the rest of the way into the back and climbing in behind her. Toby ran to open it while Beth fired the car up and drove through, Toby pulled the gate shut and ran around to hop into the passenger seat. Now Iva was in the back crying.

"What the hell you crying for," Daryl asked her, "I am the one that got kicked."

"Let her be Daryl," Beth said. Now she was having a hard time not laughing, especially since Toby was in the seat next to her giggling like crazy. The fact that there was actually something that Iva was afraid of made Beth feel better about herself. It always seemed like the other girl was completely unshakable. Iva wasn't afraid of Daryl's brother, she wasn't afraid to fight those men in the woods, she killed copperhead snakes by whacking them with a shovel, she rode her horse at breakneck speeds though the woods, and she shoved angry nesting turkeys out of the way so she could take their eggs. Now she was reduced to a sobbing emotional mess because she had to take a little car ride. And honestly, Beth found it more than a little funny that she had kicked the shit out of Daryl. She should have kicked Merle too, for grabbing her like that.

Beth steered the car through the gate at the prison. They had been expecting them back soon and Nevaeh had been down there waiting to let them in. Getting up to the area where they kept the cars, Beth parked and turned off the engine. Daryl went to open his door but it was either stuck or someone had bumped that stupid button again that made it so the door would only open from the outside. Merle saw this and took this opportunity to have a little more fun.

"Move," Iva shouted, shoving at him, "Let me out!" He stayed sitting and made no move to open the door.

"Whats wrong sweeheart," he asked with mock innocence, "You don't like it in here? Maybe you should sit a while and see if you like it better. We could take you for another ride." Beth got out and opened Daryl's door, which he practically bolted out of. Hell no was he getting stuck in there with that angry crazy ass woman and his lunatic brother. Iva was in such a hurry to get out of the car she caught her foot and spilled out onto the hard ground. Daryl moved to help her up and she took another swing at him, which he managed to dodge this time.

"Fuck you too then," he told the woman. Merle was still in the car laughing it up. He had been worried for a second when Iva fell but now that she was obviously fine, it was funny again. Opening the car door he came around the back of the car to where Iva was standing up now, brushing herself off. She didn't wait for him to say anything, as soon as he got close she just started smacking at him. He held his arm cuff up to ward off the blows she was aiming at his head and started backing up a little. Toby, never afraid to switch sides to back the winning horse, began to call out some encouragement to her. Hit him in his head. Get him good. Try to kick him.

Daryl looked on with some amusement. At least she was swinging at the person who deserved it now. He turned to see Tyreese walking up from the guard tower, with Rick, and they did not look like they were enjoying the show. Iva didn't notice them, as she was busy screaming every vulgar english word she knew while she shoved and smacked at Merle. All her swearing was making him laugh even harder. _Never knew she even knew that many dirty words. _Iva felt herself gripped gently around the waist and pulled away from the object of her wildcat fury. She balled up her fist and turned, thinking it was Daryl that had grabbed her, but stopped short when she realized it was Tyreese. Unlike everyone else that had laughed at her, he looked upset and concerned. Since he had pulled her back, she was practically in his arms and it was the closest she had ever been to the big man.

"Lets go for a walk," he suggested to her. She nodded and he led her away with his hand around her waist to take her inside and get her some water.

"What the hell is going on here," Rick demanded. Toby was wiping the water out of his eyes and Merle had taken up a perch on the trunk of the car and lit up a cigarette. Beth stepped forward.

"Iva was afraid to ride here in the car," she explained, "so they made her do it anyway and then she got mad."

"Didn't need to fucking rush your cop ass over here," Merle added, "wasn't going to hit her back." Rick shook his head. He had not really spent much time with Merle and Iva and during the time he had, they had both been mostly well behaved. He didn't know if this is how they acted all the time or if this was a one time fight. The man was telling the truth, he had not looked like he was going to hit her. In fact he had looked like he was enjoying what she had been doing to him. Rick decided to let it go for now If this became on ongoing problem, they would deal with it then. He thought he might have a private chat with Daryl later.

Iva came back out from inside, holding some water. Sandy the dog was happy to see her and was trotting along side, wagging her tail. The girl threw a hateful glance in Merle's direction and then turned to Daryl.

"Sorry I kick you," she said.

"Its alright," he anwsered. Actually he would have put up with about ten more kicks like it, if it meant he would get to see her go after his brother like that again. That was some quality entertainment.

"You sorry you hit me too," Merle asked her with an overly friendly grin. She narrowed her eyes at the man, then her face lit up with a big smile.

"No," she announced, "not sorry. Do again." This sent him off laughing again and he jumped down from the car, flicking his smoke and giving the burning butt a stomp with his boot. He swept the woman up into his arms and hugged her close. She stiffened up a little but then gave in and hugged him back.

"Come on then," he told her, "got our room all set up nice for ya, lets go have a look."


	30. Chapter 30

****This story is rated M for mature.****

Beth

After dinner, Beth had gone back to her old room back in the main wing of the prison. She and Daryl had been together all summer back at the cabin but she had been too scared to tell her father about it. Of course Hershel already knew, besides the two of them having been much less sneaky than they thought they were, Toby had blabbed the whole thing to him one day while they were planting peas. Hershel had been planning on approaching Daryl and giving the man his blessing. After some thought, he decided Daryl was a grown man, unlike Glen who he considered to be more of a kid, and if he wanted permission to have sex with his daughter, then he could come and ask for it. Besides watching them try to act like nothing was going on was pretty funny.

Beth lay there in her bed, hoping her dad would fall asleep soon so she could leave and go visit Daryl. When they got back to the prison, Daryl had been expecting her to move her things into his room and stay with him. She had convinced him she needed a little time to talk to her father about it first. And that was a conversation that she planned to put off as long as possible. She knew Maggie was with Glen, but that was different. Maggie had always been the more rebellious of the two sisters and did whatever she liked without worry that their father might not like it. Besides, Glen practically had perfect boyfriend tatooed on his forehead. She wasn't sure if her dad would be so eager to welcome Daryl to the family and she was afraid to cause him more grief after everything he had already been put through.

Hershel turned off his reading light and lay there quietly. On cue, Beth slipped by heading for the door outside. He smiled to himself and waited until she was gone before turning the lamp back on to finish his studies. She crept down the hall and outside, then passed through the small gate they had made in the fence between the two different sections of the yard. Then she followed the wall down to the door to the other cellblock. Not many people were living here yet. Just Toby, Nevaeh, Daryl and now Merle and Iva were inside but Beth had a feeling more people would want to move in and get a little more room to spread out. They would need permission from Iva first, which really meant Merle since Iva didn't care much what people did. It was the part of the arrangement they had made with Rick and Hershel when they aggreed to come live here. This was their cellblock to run as they saw fit, and people were not to come into the large portion of yard where the animals were without asking.

Beth passed by Sandy, who was sleeping near the door in the dog bed Toby made for her. She raised her head up but settled back down quickly when she saw it was only Beth. The first cell with the sheets up she knew was Iva and Merle's and she could hear some soft noises coming from inside. Two more and the fourth one was Daryl's, which also had sheet curtains. Inside were two bunk beds bolted together with a queen mattress on the bottom bunks and the top left empty and used like a shelf for storage. It took up most of the room in there, but was more comfortable than trying to sleep two people on a single bunk. She knew Iva's room had a similar setup, except they had brought her bed from the cabin. They used a second cell next door to store their things.

She tapped lightly on the bars of the cell and then held the sheet back to dart inside. Daryl was awake, waiting for her and he lifted the blanket up so she could slip underneath with him. She could feel that he was already naked, and pushed her sweats down under the blankets, using her feet to kick them off. Then she pulled her tshirt up and over her head, tossing it towards her feet. She snuggled in, loving the feeling of her bare skin against his. Back at the cabin, they had all the privacy they wanted. After a while everyone had taken to sleeping naked because of the heat. Being around other people again and having to worry about covering up and sensoring themselves was something they were all going to have to get used to again. It had been a little strange at first, but Beth was surprised how quick seeing other people naked all the time stopped being a novelty and became just another part of life.

Beth felt Daryl's hand come under her chin, tilting her face up so he could kiss her. The kisses started out whisper soft but heated up in a hurry. No matter how tight he held her, Beth always felt like it was never tight enough. She wrapped her arms around him, twisting her fingers through his hair and tugging gently. He was kissing her neck now, and the sensitive spot behind her ear, his hand moving down and pushing her legs apart. She spread them as wide as they would go and arched up a little towards his hand, wanting his fingers inside her. Trailing his fingers lightly up and down the inside of her thighs, he teased her a little bit.

Playing games could be fun but right now she was serious about wanting the man. She pulled his head back and kissed him hard, biting him gently on the lower lip. This had the desired effect and she felt his fingers slip inside her. Now he was moaning into her mouth and she pushed his hand away and rolled on top, using her hand to guide him inside. He grabbed ahold of her hips. She was so tiny his hands always felt like they might wrap all the way around her. She gasped a little as he pushed her down and rocked his hips up pushing hard and deep inside her.

"Im okay," she said before he even asked, "don't stop." He smiled a little at her, slipping his hands down to pull her knees up so he could get in a little deeper and then tossing the covers off. If her ass was going to be in the air, Daryl wanted to see it. Beth had her eyes closed, he had her by the hips now and was pumping in hard enough to make her small breasts bounce with each thrust. She was bracing herself with her hands on his chest and he could tell by the volume of her cries that she was close to orgasm. He pulled her close and rolled her onto her back, using his hands to squeeze her nipples. She came and came hard, moaning and digging her nails into his back. He was really fucking her now, slamming in hard and making her cry out. She had a feeling she would be sore tomorrow, like she sometimes was, but it was one hundred and ten percent worth it. He felt himself let go inside her. Damn it, he thought, he had told her and himself that he was going to start pulling out but it was too late now. He withdrew and flopped onto his back, while she rolled over and squeezed one of his thighs between hers, riding out the last few pulses of her orgasm before she collapsed with her head on his chest.

She rested for a minute and then sat up and started poking around for her clothes. The shirt was probably on the floor at the foot of the bed, but her pants were under the covers somewhere.

"Whatcha doing?," Daryl asked her, grabbing her and pulling her back down onto the pillow. He knew full well she was going to try and sneak back to her room before her father realized she was gone. He pulled her close and wrapped his legs around her. She was squirming a little now, trying to get loose.

"Come on," she pleaded, "I have got to go back to my room." Really staying here was sounding better and better. It was nice and warm and Daryl was here and they usually slept naked together and sometimes had sex again in the morning. At the cabin, Merle slept like the dead and Iva was usually up at the ass crack of dawn tending to her animals, so the mornings is when they had the most privacy. "I really should go," she said. He could tell there wasn't much conviction behind her words.

"Just tell yer dad that ya got up early and came over here to help Iva with the animals," he suggested. Really he thought all this sneaking around was stupid. If Hershel cared about them being together he wouldn't have agreed to let her stay at the cabin alone with him. Daryl had thought several times about just speaking to Hershel about them himself, but Beth kept insisting that she needed to do it on her own. She was young and because of the turn, had not had the opportunity to get into normal teenage trouble. This was the first time she had done anything on purpose that she felt her father wouldn't approve of and how to handle it was a mystery to her. Beth was scared her father would want the realtionship to stop and she wasn't sure if she had the conviction to stand up to him. And most of all she was afraid of disappointing him and having him be ashamed of her.

When Hershel had stopped drinking, it was because he found god. He had brought the girls up with strict morals and rules on what was acceptable and what wasn't. Maggie took everything like a challenge list of what to do next but Beth had taken most of it to heart. Even though she didn't want to stop, she felt she had been behaving very sinfully. She and Daryl weren't even engaged to be married, he was just her boyfriend, if even that, they had never really talked about it. And she had done things with him that she had never thought she would even do with her husband, and she had liked doing them too. Daryl rubbed her back softly, but she seemed distracted.

"You ever going to tell him?," he asked. In his mind they had nothing to be ashamed of. The way she was sneaking around it was like Hershel was her husband instead of her father. Beth thought about it. There was something that he could do to help.

"I would feel better about telling him if we were engaged," she said.


	31. Chapter 31

Hershel and the ducks

By the time Daryl got up, everyone and his brother already knew about the possible engagement. That little shit Toby had gone to take a piss last night and then decided to entertain himself by eavesdropping on Daryl and Beth. Of course he couldn't wait for Merle and Iva to wake up so he could tell them all about it. Now they were all standing outside giving Daryl a lot of advice that he really did not want. To Nevaeh, getting married meant a big shiny ring and a pretty dress. To Toby, like most things, it was just funny. For Beth it meant being able to sleep with Daryl and not feel bad about it. To Daryl it meant giving her a ring to shut her up and keep her in his bed every night and to Merle it meant she was probably knocked up and afraid to tell her daddy.

Iva didn't bother to listen to the silly conversation they were all having. She knew just what to do. Merle watched her with some interest but no one else was paying attention. The girl walked over to the coop where she kept the ducks she was raising for meat. Stepping in she snatched up the two she had in mind. They were not good egg layers and she had planned on butchering them soon anyway. Tucking one quacking duck under each arm, she headed off to find Hershel, kicking the wire gate closed behind her.

Hershel was easily found, he was in the community room over in his area of the prison. Iva strode forward and thrust the ducks into his arms. He was slightly shocked and let go of the angry birds, leaving them to run around the room quacking their protests. Rick was sitting next to him, feeding Judith and staring at Iva, not quite sure what the hell was going on exactly.

"Beth is woman," she informed Hershel, as though he didn't know, "ready for marriage. Daryl like most much. Give ducks. Hershel keep ducks. Daryl keep Beth." Hershel was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Carl came in from the next room.

"Why are there ducks in here?," he asked.

"From Daryl," Iva told him as thought that should explain everything. Maggie and Glen came in behind him. It was about breakfast time and they all usually ate in here together.

"Why are there ducks in here?," Glen asked.

"They're shitting everywhere," Carl added. Hershel looked around at everyone.

"It seems these ducks are payment for my daughter's hand in marriage," he said. Rick smiled now too, this was getting interesting.

"What the hell," Maggie said, "I am already married."

"Not you, Beth," Hershel told her.

"Whos marrrying Beth," Glen asked. Iva turned and looked at him like that was the dumbest question on earth.

"Daryl," she said. Now Glen was getting what was going on. And he was ninety nine and half percent sure that Daryl had no idea that his brother's girlfriend was over here purchasing him a wife with barnyard animals.

"Daryl wants to marry Beth and all we get is two ducks?," Glen asked the girl. She thought about it for a moment. There was room for negotiation.

"I bring three but Merle say only two," she told the man. Glen was really getting a kick out of this now. Daryl was going to be hearing about this for a long time.

"Why only two," Hershel asked her. He was not only finding this amusing but was curious as well.

"Beth has small tits," she anwsered. Really Iva thought hips should count for more than breasts but who was she to judge.

"Oh my god," Glen remarked, his mouth open. Carl and Rick started really laughing now and Maggie just stared at the woman like none of this was really happening. Glen could not believe that anyone would say the word tits to Hershel, let alone about his daughter. He started laughing really hard. Tyreese heard some voices from where he had been lingering in bed in his cell. He came out to see what the commotion was.

"Why are there ducks in here?," he asked.

"They are from Daryl," Hershel told him.

"They are shitting all over," Tyreese remarked, "Why would Daryl give us ducks." The man noticed that everyone was laughing a little now and he wondered what the big joke was.

"Because he wants to marry Beth," Carl informed the man. Tyreese looked at Iva, now he was understanding. She must have been playing cupid for Daryl, bringing these ducks over. He thought it was rather sweet of her. And she was looking beautiful as always. Today she had on mens boxers that were folded over at the waist, a tank top with her bra straps hanging out and big rubber wellie boots that looked to be covered in more of the stuff the ducks were laying out on the floor. Didn't matter to him, he thought she always looked lovely and natural.

"Alright alright," Rick said while trying to regain some composure, "time to take these ducks back." Iva threw him the dirtiest look he had ever seen. Hershel patted him on the arm.

"Dont be so hasty Rick," he said, "maybe we should keep them and take Beth's things over there instead." Rick smiled. Duck dinner did sound good. Iva nodded in approval. She knew her plan would work.

"Can we really keep them," Carl asked, trying to grab one. It dodged away from him and flapped up onto a table, laying down another shit on the table top.

"Careful with my ducks there son," Hershel told him with a large grin. Then he turned to Iva. "Thank you for the ducks. You can tell Beth and Daryl they have my permission to get married now." If that didn't get the man over here to talk to him, nothing would. Iva was so excited now and rushed in to give Heshel a big warm hug. Since he was sitting and she had to lean down, he got an eyeful of her abundant cleavage as a bonus. Then for good measure, she hugged everyone else as well. Carl squeezed her back tightly, while Glen patted at her back uncomfortably. Rick got a one arm hug since he was holding Judith the hair grabber. When she went to hug Tyreese she felt him pull her close and lean in with his body. If the most desirable woman around wanted to hold him, he wasn't going to let that go to waste. She jumped back, giving everyone a big smile and dashed off to tell Beth the good news. Tyreese winked at Rick as they both watched her until she rounded the corner.

"I wonder how many ducks she costs," Tyreese remarked.

"More than two," said Rick, "thats for sure."


	32. Chapter 32

Iva and Tyreese

Iva had been up before the sun. Her animals needs had been met and she had taken half the eggs and milk over the the other prison wing and left them out for Carol. It was shaping up to be a beautiful day and she was thinking about exploring the woodsy area around the prison to see what kind of plants were growing there. She thought about asking Daryl to go with her. He was her favorite plant hunting companion. Daryl walked quitely in the woods, and he was good at finding plants too. But Daryl was still not speaking to her, because of the ducks. In Iva's opinion, he was being a real brat about the whole thing. After all, he had Beth staying in his room now, just like he wanted, and Hershel getting a duck dinner didn't hurt anybody.

Sandy the dog seemed eager for an adventure and was chasing circles around Iva, nipping at her heels while she got her backpack and baskets out. She took a few peices of dried jerky and a large bottle of water. For protection she brought her bow and strapped her hunting knife to her leg. Even though she was only going looking for plants, she might get lucky and catch a rabbit or wild boar. Some of the men had gone out hunting and found a litter of wild piglets, but it would be a long time before they would be big enough to eat. Bacon now was better than bacon later.

Approaching the front gate, she saw that Michonne and Carl were coming off night watch and Tyreese and his sister were relieving them. The gate was kept locked and it annoyed Iva to no end not to have her own key, but she did understand there were only so many. She was used to coming and going as she pleased and having to depend on someone else to open up the gate for her made her feel trapped.

"Open gate," she told Carl. It was not a request. And she figured Carl was the best candidate to open the gate up and not ask her five million questions.

"Where are you going?," he asked.

"Look for plants," she said, "open up." Tyreese looked the girl over. He didn't like the idea of her going out on her own. Leaving the prison alone wasn't really against the rules, and he knew Michonne did it sometimes, but he didn't like it.

"Why dont you have someone go with you?," Tyresse suggested. Iva was starting to get mad. When she came to live at the prison, she didn't realize she was going to be in prison. It had been bad enough back at the cabin with Merle following her around, getting mad if she left by herself, but at least he had a reason to be worried. These people were just being nosy.

"Let her out," Michonne told the man. From what she had seen, the girl was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. And she understood what it was like to be underestimated because you were a woman. No one said shit to Rick when he went out alone, and he didn't even have a gun with him half the time.

"Well, I just wish she would take someone with her," Tyreese said, hesitating at the gate. He really didn't want to let the girl out alone, but Michonne scared him a little. Finally Sasha stepped in.

"If you are that worried," Sasha suggested to her brother, "go with her yourself." Tyreese looked to Iva to see what she thought. She shrugged and motioned again for them to open up. She didn't give a shit who was tagging along as long as she could leave now. Tyreese unlocked the gate and handed the keys to his sister. Then he and Iva walked through the gate with the dog and Sasha closed it behind them. She started off towards the woods and he followed after her, enjoying the view.

They walked along at a leisurely pace, Iva stopping often and adding contents to her basket. Tyreese never knew there were so many things out in the woods that were edible. Iva also stopped by the area where she knew there were snares. Most of the snares were sprung, but empty. She noticed Sandy sniffing and growling at the ground. Iva looked around on the ground. She and Daryl had traded tracking lessons for food finding lessons many times over the summer and she was getting good. It really wasn't hard once you trained your eye for small details. She searched the area around the snare and noticed quite a few dog tracks. She looked at the tracks that she knew were Sandy's and at the other tracks. They were definatley not from the same dog. This dog was quite a bit bigger and appeared to be alone, unless it was several dogs of the same breed and size. Iva wasn't sure, she wasn't that good yet.

At the next snare, it was the same scene. The trap was empty and there were lots of dog tracks. There was blood on the ground here, and it looked fresh. Sandy was on it, growling and barking. Then she darted away into a bush, growling louder. Suddenly another dog was on her, growling and biting into her. It looked like a large German Shepard. The dog was skinny and had a ragged coat that was bald in some spots. Iva pulled out an arrow, but she couldn't shoot the dog without risking shooting Sandy. She dropped her bow and grabbed a large stick from nearby on the ground. The dog was biting Sandy, hurting her and making her yelp. Iva descended on the dog, beating at it with the branch. Tyreese stared on, frozen to the spot. He had his gun out but was also afraid to shoot. He wasn't exactly a crack shot and he might hit Iva or her dog. He fired off a shot into the air, seeing if he could scare the dog away. When that didn't work, he grabbed a large rock and pushed towards the dogs, pulling Iva back and pushing her behind him.

Sandy bit his leg, making the man cry out, and suddenly the other dog fell. It was dead with an arrow through its head. Her turned to see Iva with her bow. When he had barged in, the other dog had backed up enough for her to get a clear shot. She ran in and scooped up Sandy, checking the dog over for injuries and holding her close to calm her. Then she noticed Tyreese's leg was bleeding. Iva let go of the dog and pulled his pantleg up gently. It was just a scratch, she saw, his pants looked worse than the flesh underneath. She would wash it out for him when they got back just in case. He reached down and took her hand, pulling her up. Her brushed her hair out of her face.

"Are you alright," he asked. She could see the concern on his face. Even though he stomped through the woods like a moose, stepping on every stick in sight, he was a very nice man. She felt a little overwhelmed standing so close to him, with him looking at her like that, and no one else around. Her heart beat a little harder and she felt her body start to respond to being in his arms, but she also heard a nagging voice in her head. This was not the man she loved. Iva pushed back and brushed herself off.

"I am fine," she said Then she turned to examine the now dead dog that had attacked them. She crouched down by it and thought it would be a pity to waste the meat when the dog was already dead. Then she saw something she hadn't before. When she turned back to Tyreese, she had tears in her eyes.

He knelt down next to her, placing one arm around her as she showed him what she had found. The dog was a female, and she was lactating. She was so skinny Iva could see every one of her ribs. Iva ran her fingers over the matted fur, feeling a sudden kinship with the stray dog. All the dog had wanted was to keep her pups alive. Now Iva had killed her and her puppies too. Iva remembered how excited she had been to have her baby, then those horrible men had beat her and made her lose it. She was no better than them. This mother's babies would die now too because of her. Tyreese was no animal expert, but he was smart enough to know that a nursing mother meant babies close by.

"Its not your fault Iva," he said, "she was hurting your dog." He could see the woman's pain and he wished he could take her into his arms and hold her. It was easy to see what a sensitive and caring person she was. In his opinion she deserved to be treated like a princess not teased and laughed at. Iva stood up abruptly, with a determined look on her face.

"Pupps not die," she said, "I find them. Keep safe." She immediatley began searching the ground behind the bushes, looking for tracks.

"Maybe we should go back and get someone to help us," Tyreese suggested. _Like Daryl. _Tyreese could barely find his way through the woods, let alone track and animal and find its den. Iva ignored this suggestion and picked her backpack back up. Her basket she left behind, she could pick it up on the way back.

"Tyreese not want help," she told the man, "take basket and go home." He knew there was no way he was going to do that, so Tyreese decided he guessed he was going puppy hunting. The tracks were not as hard to follow as they might have been. It had rained the night before and the ground was soft. They followed the winding trail through the woods with Sandy's nose to help them. Iva encouraged the dog and soon she didn't have to look for the tracks, just follow along behind Sandy who had her nose to the ground.

They went much further than Iva had expected. The poor dog must have really been desperate to come this far and leave her pupps alone. Tyreese stayed very close to Iva, if he lost her, he doubted he would be able to find his way back to the prison alone. Soon Sandy led them to the opening of a train tunnel. The inside contained many abandoned cars and who knew what else. Iva shrugged off her pack and got her knife out. _No way is she really going in there. _Tyreese was not as eager to go into a dark tunnel which may contain more angry dogs or worse.

"We are not going in there," he told the woman firmly.

"Stay here then," she said. And before he could stop he she darted into the dark opening. Iva stood, letting her eyes adjust to the dim light and listening. She felt the large man beside her.

"We need to get out of here," he whispered. She shushed him. Iva had heard a scuffling noise somewhere nearby and she was listening for it. There it was again. She moved towards the noise, being as quiet as possible. It was coming from under an old van. The windows were broken out and the van was pinned against the wall by another car. Sandy moved and began growling at one of the tires. Iva quickly called her back and made the dog lay down. She didn't want her to frighten the puppies and make them run further into the tunnel. Tyreese watched in shock as Iva put her knife in her mouth and actually looked like she might climb under the van. Enough was enough. Tyreese grabbed ahold of the woman.

"Stop Iva, you can't go under there," he said.

"Let go," she said, shaking his hand off, "When I say pull. Pull my legs." She had not come all this way to save the puppies only to turn back now. If this man wanted to try and stop her she would kick him where it counts. Tyreese saw the look in her eye and stepped back. She turned and put her knife back in her mouth and got back down on the ground, trying to avoid the broken glass. Passing around the back tire, Iva slithered under the car and lay still, listening carefully. She heard a tiny whimper from near the other tire, by the wall. Tiny puppy eyes reflected the dim light of the tunnel and she rolled toward them, grabbing at the spot. When she felt her hands connect with fur she grabbed tight and called to Tyreese.

"Pull!," she said. He grabbed hold of her ankles and pulled and when Iva appeared she held two tiny shepherd puppies in her arms. "Got them!" Tyreese couldn't help but smile.

"Can we please go now?," he asked. She nodded and they both headed for the light. Outside, Iva opened her pack and placed the two pupps inside, then put it on backwards and left it unzipped so she could keep an eye on them. Tyreese used his knife on a walker that was stumbling around out there, stabbing it through the ear. Then he and Iva started off back towards the prison.

They passed a bag of jerky and a water bottle back and forth between them, and Iva made sure Sandy got a bit to eat and drink as well. Tyreese walked close to the woman, peeking into her pack at the small puppies. He wasn't sure if they were worth all this trouble, but they were very cute.

Everyone who was outside at the prison had heard the gunshot. No one used a gun unless they had no other choice, so a shot meant trouble. Rick came running up to the guard tower.

"Whos out there," he asked Sasha.

"My brother and Iva," she said. Now Rick was really worried, Iva didn't use a gun which meant Tyreese must have shot it. Which also meant whatever he was shooting at was probably still after them.

"Lets give them a few minutes, and if they dont come back, we will go look for them," Rick told Sasha. It wasn't unheard of for people to climb trees to get away from a group of walkers, usually the walkers would lose interest and wander off after a little while, but no one wanted to walk up in a situation like that. And they had only heard one gunshot, no screaming. Tyreese might have fired the gun off by accident or taken a shot at a wild boar. Rick turned and saw Merle walking up. This was not going to go well, Rick thought.

"Who fired the shot," Merle asked. Sasha and Rick looked at each other and back at the man.

"We think it was Tyreese," Rick said.

"You think?," Merle asked.

"Well he and Iva went out and only Tyreese had a gun," Rick explained. He could see that Merle was already getting angry.

"Iva is out there?," he asked. Rick nodded. "God fucking damn it," Merle raged, "how many times have I got to fucking tell her not to fucking take off like that. Fuck! Give me the god damn binoculars." Rick handed them over and followed the man up the steps to the guard tower.

"Maybe they got a boar," Rick suggested. Merle ignored him. That big coon couldn't find his ass with both hands, the only one out there that was going to shoot a boar was Iva and she didn't shoot a gun. The man might have fired at a boar though, Merle thought. _Especially if he was trying to impress my goddamn woman._ One gunshot did not mean all out chaos. He thought about waiting and watching but it just wasn't feeling right. He handed the binoculars back to Rick and went to get Daryl. He would get Daryl and they would go find Iva and she wasn't fucking running off like this again if he had to glue her damn feet to the floor.

Picking up her trail had been the hardest part. People came and went from the front gate of the prison all the time and they had no idea which way she went. Once Daryl saw some dug up roots from a plant she used, he knew they were on the right track. Next they found the dead dog and her picking basket. There was blood, but not enough to indicate anyone had been seriously injured. Daryl looked down at the dead, half starved dog. Something was off about the dog to him but he couldn't put his finger on it. Iva had clearly killed it, one of her arrows was sticking out of its head. Maybe the dog spooked Sandy off and Iva had chased after her. Either way they had been out here for hours now and needed to go back for some water and supplies if there was a chance they were spending the night out here. Merle didn't want to go back for supplies, he wanted to find Iva now, but he eventually agreed.

The brothers trudged back towards the front gate, having found nothing but a basket of plants and feeling defeated. When Daryl got closer he noticed a familiar face standing inside the gate. Iva was holding her backpack carefully, giving everyone around a look inside. Merle came around the corner and spotted her as well.

"God damn her," He remarked under his breath. He sped up his pace and Rick opened the gate for them quickly. Merle started tearing into Iva immediatley. Really screaming at her this time. Where did she think she was all day. What the hell was wrong with her. Had he not fucking told her five million goddamn times not to take off like that. Did she want something else bad to happen to her like before. Iva just stood there, clutching her bundle and watching Merle's face get redder and redder. She felt bad. Iva had just wanted to get outside for a little while, she had not meant to make him worry. Maybe she should try and remember next time to tell him if she was going out.

Tyreese was looking on and not enjoying the show. He did not like how Merle was yelling at Iva, not one little bit. He stepped in, moving himself in front of the woman.

"Maybe you should calm down," he suggested. Daryl sucked his breath in, this was going to get ugly in a hurry. He knew Merle was yelling at Iva, but only because he had been worried about her. Its not like he was smacking her around or anything. Merle looked at the man. This fucker had been gone all day, alone with _his _woman. Letting her get into who knows what kind of trouble and now he had the fucking audacity to tell him how to behave. Plus he had seen the man before, smiling at Iva, staring at her tits and ass. He knew what the man wanted. This shit was the last fucking straw. Merle pulled back his fist and smashed it into the man's face.


	33. Chapter 33

New Babies

When the two men descended on each other, Iva handed the puppies to Beth and began clapping her hands loudly and yelling for them to stop. This usually worked on the goats to make them stop fighting. Unfortunately, it did not work on the men, who were now rolling about on the ground, hitting and grabbing at each other. Most people were yelling for them to stop, except Toby who was yelling for Merle to beat the other man's ass. Fighting and hitting was one thing, but when it started to look like Merle might try and stab the bigger man, Michonne and Daryl grabbed hold of him and dragged him off. Sasha and Rick grabbed her brother once he got to his feet, and pushed him back and away. Rick was a little nervous, Tyreese was a huge man and if he decided to take another go at Daryl's brother he was not going to be able to hold him back. Now Merle and Daryl were fighting, which was mildly better since at least they were probably not going to try to stab each other.

Tyreese had reached his limit. First this asshole was yelling at his girlfriend, now he was attacking his own brother. He shook of his sister and Rick off, and charged in to have another go at the man. By this time Iva had seen enough and took hold of Beth and Nevaeh and headed back to their own cell block and away from the chaos. She thought maybe without her there looking on maybe the men would stop. Walking back, Iva felt herself getting angry at the men. She was not some female doe in heat to be mounted by the stronest buck. A woman is what she was, and she had her own mind to make up. And she had already made her choice.

Hershel headed quickly down to the guard tower, where the men were being pulled off each other for the second time. He thought about asking what was going on, but he felt he could guess. This situation had been brewing for some time, and while he had hoped it wouldn't come to violence, he was not shocked that it had. And the truth was, he did not really blame Merle. If another man was following his pregnant wife around, flirting with her and staring at her breasts, Hershel might be tempted to punch the man out as well. Whatever the reason, and no matter who was right and who was wrong, they were all on the same side and fightng like this was never acceptable.

"Enough," Hershel told the men, giving them each a very serious look, "It is over. Now lets go inside and I will take a look at your injuries." Both men nodded in reluctant agreement and followed Hershel inside. Once in there, the short lived truce was over and they started up fighting again. This time Hershel got caught in the middle and punched in the face. After that both men were dragged to holding cells and dumped off to cool their heels a while. In Rick's opinion, they could sit the night in there and maybe learn a lesson. He doubted either of them would learn anything, but at least they were separated for the time being.

With the new puppies to care for, the girs quickly forgot about the fight and set about finding something for their new babies to eat. Iva found a leftover chunk of mutton roast in the fridge and took it over to the counter. Beth had taken the puppies out of the bag and she and Nevaeh were each holding one. They had their eyes open but were not old enough to be without a mother. It was going to take lots of love and care to keep them alive. Iva got a pan with some water heating up on the stove, and then chopped the meat up into the tiniest pieces she could. She added the meat to the warm water and used a potato masher to mush it up as much as possible. Then she poured the thick broth into a bowl and added some goats milk to cool it down a little. Now it was time to see if they could get the pups to eat.

Holding the bowl in front of them did not work, although Sandy was crowding in, clearly ready to eat the mixture should the pups turn it down. Iva handed the bowl to Nevaeh and took the tiny dog she was holding into her arms. She dipped her finger into the bowl and rubbed a little meat broth on the puppy's mouth. He licked it and then began suckling her finger, looking for more. She dipped her finger in again and fed him a little more. Beth watched and did the same with the baby she was holding. Soon they had both pups eating. When their little bellies started to round out, Iva decided they had enough and set the rest on the ground for Sandy. She loved the dog to pieces and didn't want her to feel left out. The girls got a large picking basket and lined it with some of their old clothes, then put the full puppies inside for a nap. They settled down quickly and Iva took the basket into her cell and set it on the floor near the bed. The girls were crowded in smiling at the little babies when Toby ran in.

"I think Ginger is having her babies," he said. Ginger was a reddish colored goat that had gotten pregnant late in the season. Iva never named her goats, but she had noticed Toby had picked out names for most of them. She also knew which one he was talking about, and stood to hurry outside. Nevaeh offered to stay and watch the pups, in case they woke up. They were small enough to slip between the bars of the cells and the girls didn't want them wandering of into an unsafe area. Beth headed out to help with the goat. Toby had been right, Ginger was having her babies soon. Iva lead her out of the enclosed pasture and under a shaded abris where she was away from the other goats and could be more comfortable.

Daryl was headed back from the fight to wash up and change his torn shirt when he saw Beth, Iva and Toby huddled around the goat. He dashed over, glad his stupid brother had not made him miss this with his fighting. Like most animals, Ginger did not need much help to bring her babies into the world. The triplets appeared one by one, Iva cleaned them each off with and old towel and handed them to Beth and Daryl to hold until Ginger had them all out. Then Beth set them down near their mother so they could nurse, while Toby ran and got the new mommy some water and food. Daryl was worried for the third goat, it seemed smaller and runtier than the other two.

"You think that one will make it?," he asked Iva. She shook her head. The baby did not look good to her either. "Isnt there anything you can do?" She thought about it a little. Life and death was common place on a farm, but like Daryl, she did fell bad for the tiny goat.

"Daryl get baby bottle from Rick?" she asked. Daryl nodded and took off. He just bet that would work, and they had plenty of milk to feed the baby too. Rick was more than happy to hand over an old bottle. Iva had done so much for little Judith, he was happy to be able to give her anything she wanted or needed. Daryl returned quickly, with Rick, who was carrying Judith. The bottle was filled with fresh goats milk and presented to the small kid. To everyone's delight, she slurped it all down straight away. Iva laughed a little, watching everyone's expressions as they watched the baby goat eat. She was never going to be able to slaughter this one. They were going to have to keep it as a pet. At least it was a female, so maybe she would turn out to be a good milker.

Daryl got up and headed inside to get a new shirt. Not only was the one he was wearing ripped from his fight with his brother, but it was now also covered in whatever came out of goats when they gave birth. Iva watched him go, she was glad he was at least speaking to her again, but she had a feeling he was still a little mad. Over the last few days she had been thinking and thinking of something she could do to make things right. She suddenly thought of the perfect idea. Beth watched Iva's face as she stared at Daryl while he walked inside. Beth felt bad for the girl. She also thought Daryl was being ridiculously stubborn about the whole thing. Iva startled her as she suddenly leaped up and headed into the prison after Daryl.

"Who lit a fire under her ass," Toby remarked. He thought about following her, to see what she was up to. But she might be going to talk to Daryl, and he didn't want any part of that.

Iva ducked into her room, where Nevaeh was still sitting on the floor wtching the two sleeping puppies. Iva gently lifted one of them out of the basket and checked unde its tail to be sure it was the female. The male she was keeping as a mate for Sandy. But this other one she had plans for.

"Is it okay if I take this one outside," Nevaeh asked, "I want to see the new goats." Ive nodded, of course it was okay. No one expected Nevaeh to stay in this room all day and night watching dogs sleep. The puppy Iva was holding began to stir a litte, and she held it close and stroked it until it settled back down. Then she headed past the two cells that separated her room from Daryl's.

He was naked from the waist up, sorting through his things, looking for a clean shirt. Iva had seen him undressed many times before, but with his back to her, she noticed his scars. His brother's back looked the same. She had never asked about it, but figured someone must have done that to them when they were children. Her back was littered with scars as well, but her's were still red and angry looking, not old and faded like the ones on the brothers. Toby had some marks as well, and Nevaeh had a few from when those men had held her captive. Her's were mostly on her wrists from where they had tied her up. Beth was the only one in their little family that had made it this far in her life unmarked, and Iva hoped she would stay that way.

Iva tapped gently on the bars of the cell to let the man know she was there. He turned toward the noise and saw it was Iva. He tried to pretend he didn't notice that she was holding a tiny furry bundle in her arms. Daryl was still a little mad at Iva over the ducks, especially since everyone he saw all day long everyday felt the need to make a joke about it. But Daryl really wanted one of the puppies, more than he had wanted anything in a long long time. Ever since he saw how much of a help Sandy was, he had been thinking about how much he wished he had a dog to take hunting with him. He knew Sandy would go with him, if Iva told her to, but that wasn't the same as having his own dog.

"Daryl mad at Iva?," she asked him. She could tell he was trying to pretend he didn't see the puppy there and tried not to smile about it.

"I don't know Iva," he said to her, "Are you about to give me that dog?" He figured there was no point in beating around the bush any longer. He wanted that puppy, and if all he had to do was forgive her for making a laughing stock out of him by trying to buy Beth for him, then he was more than willing to forgive her. Iva smiled a big beautiful smile at him now. He tried hard most of the time not to look at her, and not to think about how pretty she was, but damn she was pretty when she smiled. Even the missing tooth didn't attract from her appearance. If anything it brought to mind a classic car with just the right amount of rust on it.

"I give dog," she told him, "only if Daryl take my sorry for the ducks." He guessed she meant accept her apology, but it was cute how she said it. Daryl nodded, he was thinking he ought to forgive her for it anyway, after all she had only been trying to help him. Iva rushed in and threw the arm that she didn't need to hold the puppy around him. She squeezed him tight, happy to have her friend back. He knew it was irrational, but sometimes Daryl was just the tiniest bit jealous that Merle had been the one who fell off that bridge and broke his leg. Beth came to mind and he reminded himself that things work out the way they are meant to be. Beth wasn't Iva, but she didn't have her hellcat devil angry streak either. Iva let go of Daryl and handed over the puppy to her new owner.

"Hold on," Daryl told her, handing the dog back, "let me put a shirt on." Iva held the dog while he pulled on the first shirt he found and then reached out eagerly to take the puppy back. They headed outside together. Iva held onto his arm as they walked, happy as can be that he wasn't mad at her anymore. Daryl let her hug him a little more and set about thinking up a name for his new baby.

Iva knew Daryl had accepted her apology, but she thought she might cook him something he really liked for dinner just to seal the deal. She sent Beth over to the gardens for some peppers, onions and herbs. Then she took out three quarts of potatoes and two quarts of corned venison. Rick was staying for dinner, which meant Carl as well. Plus Hershel came over almost every night, and since Merle was still indisposed, Maggie and Glen were coming. She grabbed a few jars of pie filling as well, she did not have time to make a pie crust, but she coud make a crumble, which was almost just as good.

The girls chopped everything up into a hash and tossed it into a giant scorching hot cast iron skillet with plenty of duck fat. Toby was the only guy who really liked helping in the kitchen, and he had been put in charge of making the dessert. Since the pie filling was already made in the jars, all he had to do was thicken it up and put it in another large skillet with the crumble on top. Glen was hovering around the kitchen, getting in the way, so Iva sent him down with a big basket to pick some greens for a salad. Rick handed the baby to Hershel and went down to help. Once the hash was fried up crispy, Iva portioned it onto plates and used the hot pan to fry up some overeasy eggs that would go on top. Beth looked down at all the food.

"Do you think we should take a plate to Merle?," she asked, glacing in Rick's direction to see if this was alright with him. He nodded. Rick knew the man had taken off right after he woke up, and had been out looking for Iva all afternoon. He probably had not had anything to eat all day. Even though Merle been acting like a total ass, it was no reason to let the man starve. Iva didn't offer up an opinion, but got another plate out and filled it up. Then she set a fork on the side and wrapped the bundle up in a clean towel. She handed the bundle to Beth with a bottle of water and turned back to what she was doing.

Where she grew up, Iva had never seen two grown men fight. Boys were taught from a young age to control their emotions. If one man thought another man had been making advances on his wife, which never happened that she knew of, he would have simply made a complaint to the church elders. If two men had fought, she wasn't sure what the church would have done with them, but she thought they would have been brought in front of everyone and likely shunned. The woman would have been in even more trouble, for behaving in a lascivious manner and encouraging another man to take interest in her. Iva had been watching everyone closely since the fight, and no one seemed to be blaming her, but she felt a little scared all the same.

"Beth," Rick said, "Let him know if he will come back here and stay away from Tyreese, I will let him out when I get done with dinner." Iva was relieved to hear that. Beth told everyone she would be right back and to go ahead and start without her. She walked through the gate in the fence that separated the gardens from where they kept the animals and headed for the other cellblock. Merle smelled the food before he even heard her coming, but was trying not to look like he cared. Wasn't going to ask these assholes for anything. He was a little disapointed to see Beth instead of Iva, but anyone bringing food for him was a welcome sight.

"Hey there double duck," he said to the girl. Beth just shook her head and stared at the man. Was he really going to give her a hard time when she was the only one who had thought to bring him dinner. _Why am I even surprised? _

"You want to try that again?," she asked. Merle stood up from the cot he was sitting on and walked over towards her, moving in so he was pressing right up against the bars. Her instinct was to step back but she held her ground. Her gave her a big fake smile.

"Beth, darling, sweetheart, light of my life," he said in a mocking tone, "can I have my fucking dinner please?" She laughed and handed it over.

"If you promise to come back to our cell block and leave Tyreese alone," she told him, "Rick will let you out when he comes back." Merle thought of a few choice things he had to say about that, but decided it might be best to keep them to himself. He could always insult the man _after_ he let him out. Tyreese had apologized immediately, like the big pussy that he was, and had been let out hours ago. Shouting insults at everyone had seemed like good entertainment earlier, but now he was tired and hungry and was thinking he would like very much to go home and sleep in his own bed tonight. Plus, Iva had not been by to see him. He would never admit it to anyone, but he was actually very worried she might be angry with him.


	34. Chapter 34

****Thanks to everyone who gave a review. This story is rated M for mature. As always I own nothing from The Walking Dead****

Merle and Iva

Merle passed back through the gate that separated his section of the prison from the rest. For now he had been _asked _to stay on this side of the dividing line, which suited him fine since this was where he wanted to be anyway. He didn't plan on confronting Tyreese again as long as the man kept well away from his woman. He saw Daryl and Beth down by the goat barn, doing the evening milking. He gave Daryl a little wave and was rewarded with his brother's middle finger pointed in his direction. Both Toby and Nevaeh were conspicuously absent, which meant they had retreated to one of their rooms or some dark corner to suck each others faces off. It was a good thing too, because what they really needed around here more than anything was another pregnant teenage girl. Iva was for sure knocked up and Merle had heard the little princess outside hurling three out of the last four days, so Toby might as well join the irresponsibilty club and knock up his girlfriend too.

After dropping off his dinner plate in the kitchen area, Merle went over to the rain barrel and figured he better wash up a little. He was covered in dried blood, only some of it his, and he had dirt and sweat and grass stains all over him. They didn't keep extra clothes outside, but they kept a tupperware with clean towels near the area they used to wash up. Beth had put them there as encouragement for everyone to stop walking around naked to air dry after bathing. Merle had gotten a laugh out of that, since she had been strutting around just as naked as everyone else back at the cabin. He guessed she didn't want her dad and sister to know about all that.

After he washed up as best he could, Merle wrapped a towel around his waist and headed in to get some fresh clothes and look for Iva. She was easy to find, in their room sitting cross legged on the bed. Merle could see the _no animals allowed on or in the bed _rule had lasted about a whole five minutes while he was gone. Not only were Sandy and the cat in there, she also had a small puppy and what appeared to be a newborn baby goat dressed in a crocheted sweater up there too. Beth had been working on the beggining of a blanket and had turned it into something to keep the baby goat warm. Since he was barefoot after his shower, Iva had not heard him coming. He stood there in the doorway watching her, snuggling and petting her animals. It wasn't obvious yet that she was pregnant, especially with her clothes on. She was starting to look just a little softer and rounder all over, especially her face. The only real noticeable change was her breasts, which had started to swell and become tender to the touch. The skin there was so sensitive that all he had to do now was blow on them and she would be clawing at the bed sheets. She had been lucky so far not to have had any morning sickness, but Merle had noticed she had been going to bed earlier and sleeping harder. He had even woke up before her a few times, which had never happened before.

Iva heard a soft rustle by the doorway and looked up to see Merle standing there looking in at her. She was a little startled and immediately guilty for having all the animals in the bed where they didn't belong. To be fair, she had only brought the baby goat and puppy in, Sandy and Mouser had come up on their own. Iva got up slowly, as to not wake the sleeping babies, and placed them gently one by one into the basket she had for them on the floor. Sandy had seen the man in the doorway as well, and quickly hopped down of the bed, wagging her tail like she was never up there in the first place. He held the curtain open for her and then shooed the cat out as well. When he turned to pull the curtain shut, Iva noticed he was only wearing a towel.

Even before she started pulling her clothes off, he could see the change in her bady posture and demeanor. Since she had not come to see him today, he had assumed she was mad at him for the fighting. Whether she had been pissed off earlier or not, she didn't look mad now. Iva pulled her shirt off over her head and dropped it on the floor, then took the few steps to reach the man so she could wrap her arms around him. She hugged him tight around the waist and pressed her bare skin against his. Merle let out a long breath and hugged her back, burying his face in her hair and breathing in the combination of delectable scents that were distinctly Iva. He could feel the stress of the day leaving his body as he stroked her hair and rubbed the soft skin on her back.

Her hands were pulling at the towel around his waist until it came loose and fell to the floor. Then she was pushing her sweats down and stepping out of them. He pulled her close again, kissing her hard on the mouth, and feeling her grip his shoulders and the back of his neck, digging her nails in a little. She was kissing him back hard too. Then she released her grip on him and spun around in his arms, pressing her backside against him. Taking his hand, she put it where she wanted it most, between her legs. She held onto his arm securely with one hand and used the other hand to guide his fingers inside her. Since she had gotten pregnant, they had still been having sex regularly, but she could tell that he was afraid to get too rough with her because he was worried he might hurt her or the baby. While she was proud she had a man that cared so much for her well being, tonight a little gentle kissing and love making was not going to be enough.

He was sliding his fingers in and out of her fast and hard, making her moan and gasp. Her ass was pressing and rubbing against him, making him throbbing hard. Using his foot to kick her legs further apart, he bent his knees a little and replaced his hand with his dick. She leaned forward, resting her hands on top of the bed to steady herself. He was pushing into her hard and fast, forgetting about all the being gentle and no hurting her stuff that he usually reminded himself of if he thought he was gettting too excited. Iva arched her back a little, getting at an angle that felt the best to her. She shut her eyes, concentrating only on the sensitive spot deep inside her that was being rubbed back and forth again and again. When she felt him slide his thumb inside her ass, pumping it in firmly with the rhythm of his thrusts it was more than she could take. She felt herself explode around him, seizing and contracting so hard he could even feel it where his thumb was. Inside her it was always warm and wet, but when she came, it got burning hot and even wetter. It always reminded him of a hot towel right out of the dryer, almost to hot to touch but you want to press it to your face anyway. Pushing into her again, he felt himself release deep inside. Best part of knocking her up was not having to worry about trying not to knock her up.

He pulled out of her gently and she yanked the covers on the bed back, then climbed inside, holding them up so he could crawl in after her. She snuggled in close, nuzzling around to find her favorite spot, where her head rested just right on his chest. He could feel her heartbeat racing against him, and rubbed her back until it slowed back down to normal.

"Thought you were going to be pissed off," he told her, "about the fight." She had been rubbing his chest and arm in soft little circles, but now she stopped. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything. Iva took a moment and thought about what she wanted to say. She was always frustrated by the language barrier and feared she wouldn't be able to make herself understood. There was a lot she would like to tell him about the fight. Other than the men who had attacked her and Beth, and what happened today, she had never seen two grown men fight. She had been afraid it was her fault, that she had done something unintentional to lead the other man on or make Merle think something was going on that wasn't. Iva wished she could tell him she loved him and he didn't need to fight for her. She also did not appreciate the fighting. She knew she had hit at him a few times after he had been teasing her about the car ride, but she would have never really hurt him. He had looked ready to kill that other man. It scared her what might have happened if other people had not stepped in and made him stop. What if he had actually killed or seriously hurt Tyreese. She knew Merle did not like the man, but Tyreese was mostly nice, not like the men that had tried to hurt her in the woods that day. She had a feeling if Merle had really hurt the man, the other people here might want to make him leave. And where would that leave Iva, she would be forced to leave with him, risking her life and the life of their child, or stay here alone, which would be just as bad. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes now. She had been alone for so long.

"No more fight," she finally said, "fight more, people say Merle no live here anymore." Merle felt himself relax a little. Iva was always unpredictable and he had not had the slightest clue what she was going to say. The truth was, her concern was valid. He had made peace with most of the people here that he had problems with, but he knew a lot of them still did not like him. They put up with him because he was affiliated with Iva and Iva fed them. If he went around beating the shit out of people, he might find himself even more unwelcome here, or locked in a cell for a lot longer than a few hours.

"No more fighting," he agreed. Then he tilted her chin up so he could look at her and show her how serious he was about what he was about to say. "You do not ever take off like that again without telling me. Understand? Not ever again." She nodded vigorously. "And stay away from Tyreese." He thought about telling her the man was only being nice to her because he wanted to fuck her, but changed his mind. She had probably figured that out on her own by now, he knew by now that the girl was much more intuitive than she looked.

Iva nodded again. She did not want to be the cause of any more problems. Merle thought she seemed to be taking this seriously this time but he had this same talk with her about not leaving the gated area without telling him about twenty fucking times already. She had a habit of agreeing with whatever he said, and then just continuing on and doing whatever the fuck she wanted like he had never said a word. Iva was also not above pretending like she had not understood what he had told her, even though he knew she understood just fine. It was absolutely maddening. Even he and Daryl didn't leave without telling someone where they were going and when they intended to be back.

"You can go where you want," he said more gently, "but you have got to tell me so me or Daryl so someone can go with you, okay?"

"Iva tell Merle before leave fence," she agreed. The part about Tyreese, she didn't bother to repeat. She had no intention of going near the man again. Merle was satisfied for now, but he was going to keep a fucking eye on her for a while anyway. And he thought he might ask Beth to do the same. Beth was terrified to leave the fence alone and he knew the girl had no problem tattling on Iva for trying to do it.

Toby was just as likely to take off with Iva as he was to keep an eye on her, but Merle might be able to enlist his help if he offered the boy something in return. Maybe he could offer to take the boy hunting, he had been planning on it anyway and he knew Toby was excited. The kid could be more than a little annoying, but Merle liked him anyway, and he thought it might not be a bad idea for someone to talk to him about whatever was going on with him and Nevaeh. He didn't blame a kid that age for wanting to get a piece of ass, but most thirteen year olds did not have a willing partner and lots of unsupervised time on their hands. Merle liked Nevaeh and he also knew what happened to her before she came to live with them. She was sweet and quiet and pretty and could have her choice of the older boys if she decided Toby wasn't filling the bill. He knew the two of them had been doing a lot of kissing but wasn't sure how far they had gone. Toby had never had a father or any notable man in his life that had taken any interest in him. Merle doubted anyone had ever had a talk with him about women's needs and how to keep them happy. Of all the shitty things his father had not done that he should have, Merle was grateful to have been given that information. Only good advice he really ever got from that shitbag was how to give an orgasm.

The next morning, Hershel came over to talk to Merle. He wanted to be sure that there would be no further problems. Hershel had talked to Tyreese first. The man had been adamant that he did not like the way Iva had been being treated, but promised in the future he would stay out of it. Hershel didn't care much for the yelling that sometimes went on next door either, but it was only yelling and sometimes people yelled when they got angry. From close observation, he had also noticed that the young woman in question was not always as much of an innocent in the fights as she appeared to be. She was also quite capable of defending herself.

Toby watched Hershel walk into their cell block. People from the other block were not allowed over in their area without asking but he knew that certain people like Hershel, Rick and Maggie were exceptions to that rule. Right after Hershel went in, Toby saw Iva and Nevaeh heading over to the shower area. They had been working on digging up a huge pit that was eventually going to be an in ground greenhouse. Both girls were covered in mud and dirt. Toby knew they were going to strip and bathe a little before they made lunch. On the spur of the moment, Toby had a wonderful awful idea. It had been a while, well maybe only a week or so, since he had played a joke on anyone and this was going to be a good one.

Merle had been anticipating that someone would come to speak with him today, and he was glad it was Hershel and not that dumb cop. He respected Hershel. Everyone did. The man had gone down to check on Beth, who was still in bed feeling sick to her stomach. Hershel thought some tums might help, but also thought he might ask Iva to make the girl some tea. It was obvious now that Beth was just having morning sickness, so he assured her that she would be fine and it should pass after a few more weeks. The rest of the day she was keeping food and drink down without a problem so there was no immediate danger. He also let Daryl know he should keep something by the bed for her to nibble on before she got up. Morning sickness tended to be worse on an empty stomach.

Merle was sitting by the wall near his room, and he hd a chair set out for Hershel. Just when the man was settling down for their talk, Toby came flying in like a damn jackrabbit and almost ran right into them.

"Rick is outside looking for ya," he told Hershel, "it seemed important!" Hershel got up quickly and headed outside. When he got there he did not see Rick anywhere. He did however, see two naked girls washing themselves. Iva and Nevaeh were both butt ass naked, scrubbing off the dirt from the pit they had been digging. Iva gave Hershel a little wave and he realized he had been standing there staring. He turned beet red under his beard and saw that now the girls were laughing. They had seen Toby take off inside at top speed, and figured he was sending Daryl out. The novelty of accidentally seeing the girls naked had pretty much worn off on the man, but Toby thought it was funny anyway. Iva and Nevaeh had not seen Hershel come over, and the surprise of seeing him standing there, plus the look on his face was enough to send them into a raucous fit of laughter.

Hershel gained control of himself finally and turned to see Toby in the doorway laughing like a fucking hyena. When he saw a very angry Hershel coming towards him, he took off into the prison like a rat, holding his sides which hurt from laughing so hard. Merle saw Toby streak through the hall and wondered why he was running around like a nuthouse this time. Daryl had been coming out of his room and had to jump back to keep from being bowled over. There was no fucking telling what that damn kid was up to this time. Last time he had been running like that it was because he slapped Iva as hard as he could in the ass with a big dead fish. When Daryl saw a very red faced Hershel coming in behind the boy, he had a feeling he knew exactly what happened. Hershel sat down in the chair next to Merle and tried to remember what he had wanted to say to the man, but all he could think about was the naked breasts and asses he had seen outside.

"Toby tell him to go outside?," Daryl asked his brother. Merle nodded, guessing now who had actually been out there and trying not to laugh. Last time Toby got him he had told him there was a biter in the shower room and he had run right in on Michonne butt fucking naked. She had been none to happy about it either and had chased Toby around whipping at him with a wet washcloth.

"Somebody naked out there?," Merle asked Hershel.

"Iva and Nevaeh," Hershel told them. Daryl laughed and patted the man on the back.

"Welcome to the family," he told Hershel, "Be happy you saw some titties instead of Merle's dick."


	35. Chapter 35

Violet

Most of the men and some of the women had gone on a run the day before. With forty people to feed all winter now instead of only four, Iva needed more canning equiptment, especially jar and lids. Hershel had suggested an Amish store he knew of and the place had been a jackpot. They must have received a shipment right before the turn, and since empty jars and giant water bath canners were not really something starving people on the run would want, most of it was untouched. They had to hot wire two extra trucks and a minivan just to bring it all back. Besides the canning items, inside there had been rows and rows of economy sized bags of flour and sugar, plus rice, powdered yeast, baking soda and baking powder. It was enough to hold them through the coming winter and spring. Daryl knew Iva would be excited, she had been worried she might have to slaughter more of her animals than she wanted to, in order to keep everyone fed.

Even with everyone helping, it ws going to take most of the day to sort through everything and get it hauled inside. Most of it went to Iva's block, because they had the most empty space to put things. Hershel had moved in, and then Maggie and Glen had come along as well, but there were still a ton of empty cells were things could be sorted and stacked. Glen had been a little reluctant at first, but found he enjoyed having more space and since Maggie was helping everyday with the animals, it was much easier for her to not have to walk back and forth all the time. Plus she liked being closer to her sister now that they were both pregnant.

Iva was carrying in a few more cases of jars when Carl came running up.

"I think something is wrong with Violet," he told the woman. She thought about who he might be talking about, and then remembered she had heard some of them calling one of the pigs by that name. No matter how many times she warned them not to, these people insisted on naming the animals. Iva handed her load off to Daryl and headed over to the pasture to take a look. When they were tiny piglets, Rick and Hershel had been keeping them in a small pen they had made from wooden pallets, but once they were a little bigger, Iva had put them in to graze with her sheep. Pigs and sheep could both be bad tempered at times, but so far it seemed to be going well. Carl climbed up on the split rail and pointed. Iva could see the pig, laying out in the middle of the grassy area by herself.

She hopped the fence and went to get the piglet, keeping careful watch over the sheep to make sure none of them were thinking about butting into her. They usually only went for the guys, but you could never tell. The small pig was laying on her side, and her breathing sounded labored. She was definatley sick. Iva picked her up and took her out of the pasture. She headed over to a small shed she sometimes used to quaratine sick chickens. It would work fine for the sick pig as well. It would be a shame if they lost her, but worse if all the pigs got sick and died. Iva sent Carl to bring the pig some water and food and told him to keep checking in on her. It was all they could do for now, but maybe later she would ask Hershel to take a look.

Later that night, people started coughing, and several of them took off for bed right after dinner. Iva offered to check on them but Dr. S said he woud do it. She was pregnant, and had no interest in getting herself and her baby sick, so she was grateful to the man for offering to go. After dinner, she went to check on Violet. The pig seemed about the same, and felt a little hot. Iva pushed the water closer and decided if the pig was still sick the next day she might try to give it something for the chest congestion. Remedies that worked on people, usually worked on animals as well, but it was best to let them recover on their own.

The next afternoon, everyone was out, hauling in the last of the supplies and trying to decide where to put them. Then they heard gunshots coming from inside the prison. Iva moved to run towards the noise but Merle held her back.

"Stay here," he told her. She nodded quickly.

"Toby is in there," she told the man. The words hit him like bricks and he ran for the block where the noises had come from. He could see Rick and Daryl ahead of him, grabbing guns out of a shed before they headed in. Merle already had his handgun so he an ahead of them. Inside the doors complete choas had broken out. People were screaming and and person was being eaten alive by several biters. Merle's first thought was that one of the barred doors had given in and they had been overrun by a herd from deeper inside the prison. These biters were not wearing prison uniforms though, they were people he knew. He took out the ones closest to him, searching frantically for Toby. Rick and Daryl ran in behind him and started shooting and herding the people that were unharmed towards the outside door.

"UP HERE!," Toby screamed. He was on the upper level with Carl. The two of them had Nevaeh and most of the other kids behind them and were fending off three walkers with only Toby's pocket knife and a broken off two by four. They were backed up into a corner and couldn't risk making a move on the walkers in front for fear the other ones would surge in and someone would get bit. Merle couldn't shoot at the bastards either, they were too close to the kids. He grabbed the one by the back of the shirt and beat its head in with his arm sleeve. Another one dropped with an arrow in it that Daryl had shot from below, and Toby kicked the third one's knees out and stabbed him through the ear several times.

"Outside, go go!," Merle yelled at them. Most of the kids took off but there was one younger one huddled in the corner crying. No time to waste, Merle picked him up and handed him to Nevaeh. "Take them all to the animal pasture and close all the gates behind you," he told the girl. She nodded and did as she was told. Now that most of the dead had been dispatched, they needed to check cell by cell and make sure there were no more left and try to figure out what happened.

There was no evidence that anyone had come in and they found no bodies except those of people that they knew. The only explaination was that someone had died in the night for some reason and turned while everyone was sleeping. Merle saw Iva in the outside doorway with Hershel and he motioned them inside. Together they looked over the dead bodies. Hershel noticed that Iva had a strange expression on her face. It was terrible for all of them to see the dead bodies of people that they knew, but this seemed like more than that.

"Got to burn them all," she told Hershel.

"Do you know what this is Iva?," he asked. She nodded. How was she going to explain. As soon as she saw the blood coming out the eyes and noses of the dead and connected it with the sick pig, she knew exactly what was happening. This was a terrible sickness. It had passed through her small community about a year before she had become a woman. Her first husband Zachary had lost his wife and two grown sons to the disease. She had fallen ill with it as well, but recovered. One of her younger sisters had not been so lucky. She did not want any more of these people to die.

"I know," she told Hershel, "many Shamish get sick long time ago. Some die. Same sick." She pointed to the blood on the body closest to them. "Bleed from eye and mouth then die."

"Do you know anything we can do to help anyone else that may get sick?," Hershel asked. She nodded again. A few year after the first round of sickness had hit her small community, people had started getting sick again. She had been married then, and since her husband was considered the town doctor, all the sick people had been brought to their house. She had helped him to care for them. Iva was not sure how to explain all this to Hershel so she told him to send anyone who seemed sick down to the empty block they had just cleared out the week before. No one had moved down there yet, but there were beds with mattresses that people could lay on, and it was cool in there and quiet.

"Aren't you worried you might get sick?," Hershel asked her. She said no and explained as best she could that she had been sick with the same disease once before and wasn't likely to get it again. Hershel seemed to be satisifed with this and Iva set off to get what she needed from her stores of herbal medicine.

Karen and David were down in the secluded area. They both looked sick, but David sounded worse so Iva concentrated on him first. She used some of the water that Hershel had boiled for her. She poured it into a bowl and mixed in some herbs, then leaned him over the bowl and started making tea for both of her patients to drink. Dr. S came down to help her. While she was worried he might get sick, she was glad to have the help. Karen took the tea gratefully and she could tell right away that whatever was in it was helping her. Her coughs seemed more productive and her lungs stopped burning. The doctor gave them both IVs to be sure they wouldn't get dehydrated and then went to get Iva some more hot water.

Carol was up very early the next morning. She saw most people were stll sleeping and she was glad. She would need privacy to do what she knew needed to be done. Carol had been relieved when the sick people had been quarantined, but when she had seen that doctor coming and going she knew that separating the sick people from everyone else was not enough. She felt bad for Karen and David, but they were going to get a lot of people killed. She gripped her knife tightly and tuned the corner to look inside the room. What she saw shocked her.

Karen was sitting up in bed, sipping on a mug of tea and looking much better. Iva was fast asleep in the bed opposite from her. Karen smiled when she saw the woman and gestured her inside. Her fever had broken a few hours before, but David had died in the night.

"Iva did everything she could for him," Karen said, "but you know he had asthma already so I'm not sure anything woould have helped." Carol nodded and asked Karen if she could bring her some breakfast. Karen thanked her warmly but said she was fine with her tea for now. Carol kept it together until she got out of the room and then she collasped, hugging herself and feeling tears come into her eyes. Sh had been ready to murder those people. And what would she have done to Iva, stabbed her too to keep people from finding out. What had she been thinking. Carol reminded herself that no one knew what she had been ready to do. And no one would ever have to know either. She pulled herself together and headed up to the kitchen to start breakfast.


	36. Chapter 36

Brian

There were still a few people resting in bed with lingering coughs, but Dr. S could take care of them. Iva had been inside tending to sick people for two weeks straight. She was happy and proud that she had been able to help everyone. After David, only one other person had died, and elderly black woman with a bad heart. Iva liked taking care of people, but for now she really needed a break. She felt like if she didn't get out of these fences in the next few minutes she might actually go insane.

Merle was already up and happy to see Iva with her picking baskets. He had not seen the woman much lately since she had been over taking care of everyone. A short trip outside sounded good, he had been feeling a little cooped up lately as well. They both geared up, Iva took her bow and knife, and a handgun that Merle insisted on which she did not know how to use. He had his armpiece and a handgun, and for good measure he brought along a new rifle he had been practicing with. Last couple times he had been on watch, he had seen boars in the woods beyond the fences. A few had been brave enough to skirt around the pits they had dug to catch the biters and had been digging at the fences, trying to get to the food inside. He figured if they were going out anyway, he might as well try for one.

"Get fat pig?," Iva asked him, eyeing the rifle and softly touching his arm. He smiled at her, all of the sudden he could think of a few things he would rather be doing than pig hunting. They were all dressed and ready to go already, so he figured that could wait until they got back. Carl opened the gate for them and shut it behind.

"If you get a pig, can I have some bacon?," the boy asked.

"Hell no," Merle told him. Iva smiled and gave him the thumbs up behind Merle's back. As they headed down into the woods they had to take out a few biters. He just let Iva use her bow on them, and then helped her get the arrows back. Her bow was quieter and didn't waste ammunition. They were walking down the path they usually took, with Merle in front of Iva, and she had to say she was admiring the view. She walked up closer to pass him by and gave him a smack on the ass with the end of her bow.

"Thats how you want to play," she heard him say as he grabbed hold of her and pulled her close, gripping her behind. Iva leaned in giving him a lingering kiss and then wiggled away out of his grasp. She really did need to replenish some of the medicinal plants she had used over the past two weeks and she wasn't going to find them in Merle's pants. They walked along without hurry, Iva filling her basket and Merle watching for pig tracks. He poked her and pointed to a plant that she had missed. Iva gave him an enticing smile and made sure to bend over as slowly as possible to pick the leaves. She had missed him over the last week and had some plans in mind for later that day. Naked plans.

Just when he was thinking they should go back, Merle spotted a very distinct trail that meant pork chops for dinner. Iva followed his glance and saw the tracks as well. She picked a nearby tree with low branches and shoved her picking basket up into the branches. It was time to go hunting. Merle lead the way, and Iva was sure to tread quietly behind him. It wasn't long before they saw one of the fat lumbering beasts. Merle motioned for Iva to move around the other way. She pulled up her bow and set her sights on the pig. If she could, Iva wanted to let Merle have the shot, but his pride was not worth losing the animal. He raised his gun and got the head in his sights, then fired. As soon as she heard the click, Iva loosed her arrow as well. Before the beast even knew what happened, it was lying there dead with a bullet through its brain and an arrow through its heart.

Iva leaped over the pig and launched herself into the arms of her man. Hunting with him was more fun than hiding out by the salt lick with Toby. She kissed him lustfully and then turned her attention back to the hog. Merle leaned down and slit it's throat to let it bleed out, and Iva carefully cut open its middle to remove the intestinal organs before they ruined the meat. She squeezed the contents of the intestines out carefully and put them in a ziplock bag with some water from her water bottle. All sausage was good, but smoked pork sausage was something she had not had since before the turn and she did not intend to let one bit of this pig go to waste.

"Will you make some of it spicy sausage," Merle asked her. She laughed, she had not even said that she was making any sausage yet. Him and Toby, nothing but a couple a sausage hounds, the both of them.

"I make Merle any thing Merle want," she said to the man suggestively. He had no idea what had gotten into this girl today but he was liking it. She was starting to look really pregnant now. He had never really been one to get off on looking at pregnant chicks, but Iva was looking really sexy. She had always had a great rack, but other than that she had looked more athletic. Now she looked rounder all over, more curvy and voluptuous. The way the skin stretched so tight over her round little belly, she looked like a ripe peice of fruit. And her tits were just massive now, all full and round looking.

"When is there going to be milk in your tits?," he asked her. She just started laughing. Sausage and titty milk, this conversation was getting interesting and not in a good way. She thought about offering to let him see if there was any milk in them right now, but they needed to get this pig tressed up and get out of here.

"First baby. Then milk," she explained. He shrugged his shoulder and nodded. Learn something new everyday, he thought. Then he decided they really better get this pig and get back. Neither one of them was keeping watch on their surroundings and that could be a recipe for disaster. Merle found two long sturdy branches and Iva tied the pigs legs together tightly. They threaded the branches through the legs and lifted the pig up onto their shoulders. The hog was a big one. It was going to be a long walk back. Iva had taken some rags out of her bag to help cushion the branches where they rested on both of their shoulders, but the load was still heavy. Merle was little worried that the load was to heavy for her, but she asssured him that it was fine. The walk back was only about two miles and she could make that trek easy.

Stopping only to grab Iva's basket, they were making good time getting back. Now they could see the fences through the dense foliage. And what they saw made Merle stop dead in his tracks. They dropped the pig and he motioned for Iva to get down, which she did, quickly. A line of trucks and other vehicles, including a large tank where lined up outside the main gate. A tall man Iva had never seen before stood up on the hood of one of the cars and signaled the tank driver to fire. Merle wrapped his arms around Iva, covering her ears, but the noise was still deafening. The people inside the prison were starting to run out. The tall man started to yell at them and when he heard his voice, Merle could feel all the hair on his arms stand straight up.

"That is bad man," Iva whispered. Merle nodded. The man was clearly there to hurt them. Why else would he have that big scary gun car. Iva touched the rifle and looked at Merle. He already knew what he had to do, but this confirmed it. Iva backed away a little and he lifted the rifle and set his sights on the Governor.

Brian had been yelling for someone named Rick to come out and then a shot rang out from the woods. The man dropped in front of the truck he had been standing on. He was dead. The people at the trucks turned their guns towards the woods, but they couldn't see anyone. Iva and Merle were laying flat on the ground now, behind the brush. Tara was scared. Her friend was dead, and she wanted to leave. She had not liked that Brian had two people tied up, especially since one of them looked like Santa and was missing a leg. Since Brian had been shot, someone might try and hurt these people. She did not want that to happen so she crawled forward and cut them both loose with her knife. Then she turned to Mitch.

"Its over," she said, "lets just leave." He looked at her like she was crazy.

"We are not leaving until we get what we came for," he screamed. From where they were hiding, Merle could hear the man and he swore the voice sounded very familiar. He raised up a little to get a better look. That man was who he thought. Merle did not show himself yet but he called out to the man.

"Mitch," he yelled, "dont fucking shoot me."

"Who is over there," Mitch yelled, climbing down from the tank and walking cautiously towards the woods.

"Merle Dixon," Merle yelled, "Dont fucking shoot me man." Iva was gesturing for him to stay down, but Merle stood up where the other man could see him. The turn changed people, but Merle did not think his old Marine buddy would kill him. He had his handgun in his hand just in case. Merle relaxed when he saw the other man smile and put his gun away. He did the same. They hugged in the awkward back slapping way grown men who didn't usually hug gave hugs.

"You shot Brian," Mitch said. He didn't hold it against the man too much, they were at his front door with a tank.

"Who?," Merle asked. Now he was confused.

"Brian," Mitch said, pointing to the body on the ground.

"His name is not Brian and I think we need to have a little chat," Merle told him, "how about we have it over a beer?"

"Sounds fucking better than standing around out here," Mitch replied.

"If we let your friends in are they going to be cool?," Merle asked him. Mitch nodded. Most of them had already been ready to run away even before Brian got shot so he doubted they would try anything. Merle turned towards the woods and called to Iva. She stood up and started trying to pick up the pig. Merle had forgotten about the damn pig and moved to help her. Mitch stepped in and offered to take her spot and carry it. This girl was very pretty and very young and very pregnant. Looked like old Merle had been quite the busy beaver since the last time Mitch saw him. Well, Merle could tell him all about that too. The two men headed for the front gate, and Rick opened it for them. Michonne and Hershel were already inside. Mitch turned and gestured for the rest of the group to follow him. Rick gave Merle a look. _He better know what the hell he is doing._ Then he motioned for the people to come in as well. Most of them looked dirty and hungry. The governor could be a charasmatic leader, but Rick guessed it didn't take much convincing to talk scared hungry people into taking food and a safer place to live from another group. Rick turned to them.

"We take people in here all the time," he started. Some of them looked skeptical. "More people means more workers and a stronger group." Some of them were nodding now. They all knew well enough that no one could make it alone. They also were not blind and could see the abundant gardens and a few animals milling around over in the other courtyard. If they had live animals, it meant they had not had to kill them all for food, which meant they had food. "You can all stay here as long as you like."

"No catch?," the man that had been in the tank said to him. This was sounding a little too good to be true.

"We expect everyone to work and pull their weight," Merle told the man. Mitch nodded his approval. That sounded fair enough to him. Iva thought the people looked dirty and most looked skinny. She tugged on Merle's sleeve.

"Iva make food," she said, pointing to the people. Rick caught on, of course they should show these people somewhere they could wash up and get them something to eat. Just like they did for everyone they brought in off the road. Rick smiled at Iva, he had known her for a while now but it always took him a little off guard that a girl so pretty could be so kind and caring. She always put others first and maybe they could all learn a lesson from her.

"Thats a good idea Iva," he told the girl. Then he turned to the group, "Let me show you where you can clean up a little and then we will get you something to eat." Iva smiled at Rick and then turned to the people, stepping out from behind Merle where she had been hiding. Sandy had run down from inside and was sitting at her feet. She had never spoken in front of a group this big but she had something important she wanted to say. Merle was watching her with no small amount of interest. Who knew what she might be ready to say to these people, she was unpredictable. Iva approached a girl in the front of the group. The one who had let Hershel and Michonne go. She took her hands and then looked around at everyone behind the girl. They were all staring at her. She took a deep breath and gave them one of her radiant smiles.

"Welcome home," she said.

**The End**


	37. Chapter 37

Epliogue

Iva sat in a chair near Beth, Nevaeh, and Maggie. The weather was beautiful and the girls were shelling peas they intended on canning and drying later that day. They were watching Iva's daughter and Lilly's son teach the smaller children how to pet the puppies the right way. The two children had been born only two days apart and had been joined at the hip ever since. Beth was keeping a close eye on her younger son, who was a known tail puller. Her older boy was down by one of the coops, helping Toby feed the geese and clip their wings.

Beth had what her father jokingly called Irish twins. The two boys were exactly ten months apart in age. She had been lucky so many girls had young infants around that time. Her milk dried out as her second pregnancy advanced and Iva and Maggie had pitched in and helped nurse her baby for her. Both her deliveries had been long and hard on her body, and she was grateful she had not gotten pregnant again after the last one. Some light crying and fussing started coming from the small bassinet that was behind the girls under a shade cover. Maggie got up to fetch her son, who was about six months old now. Daryl's dumb dog had been poking its head into the basket, licking the boy. She loved that the dog was so gentle and loving with the kids, but it would be nice if the dog could wait to give kisses until after naptime.

Carl and Meeka walked over from the other cell block, holding Judith's hands and swinging her back and forth in the air. She let go and came running over. Of course she didn't want to play with the little kids, she wanted to help shell peas. Iva was never one to turn down help, so she hauled herself up and out of her chair, wishing for about the one thousandth time today that this freaking baby would hurry up and come out. She could barely walk for goodness sake.

"I could have gotten her a bowl," Meeka called to the woman.

"Maybe walk to kitchen make baby come out," Iva called back, making everyone laugh. Meeka followed her down to the kitchen area anyway, to get a bowl for herself so she could help. They had picked three bushels of shelling peas earlier and it was going to take the next few days to get them all cleaned and preserved. There was already a huge pot of split pea and ham soup simmering near a low fire, and it smelled amazing. The end of summer was always the best time for food, it was always the time when they had the most and the biggest variety. Lilly was in the kitchen with her sister, peeling and chopping carrots to throw into the soup pot. When she saw Daryl and Glen helping Hershel outside to his chair she stopped and headed over to give him a kiss.

The day they had all come to live at the prison, Lilly had lost her daughter and the man she loved. Then she had found out the truth about the man and all the terrible things he had done. When she had figured out that she was pregnant with his baby, she had tried to kill herself. Hershel had been there for her, convincing her that life was still worth living. He was the kindest, most gentle man she had ever met and she had fallen in love with him despite the age difference. Her son believed Hershel was his father and no one had told him yet that it wasn't true. Lilly supposed she would have to tell the boy eventually, just so he would know he was not blood related to Maggie and Beth's children. Everyone was like family now, but when the kids got older they would want to start dating and it would be best if they knew who was a cousin and who wasn't.

Toby was walking back up from the coop now, with Maggie's daughter up on his shoulders and Beth's son holding tight to his hand. Iva knew she wasn't really his mom, but she felt a mother's pride when she looked at him all the same. He had grown into such a tall handsome man, the way she had always known he would. For now he was the tallest man of the whole group, although Iva had a feeling Lilly's son might take over that honor when he got older. He hopped and skipped a little, bouncing around the little girl that was up on his shoulders, making her grip hold of his hair and squeal in delight. When they got closer, he swung her off and set her down with the other children. Beth's son spotted his favorite person in the world besides his mommy and ran over to grip Daryl's legs making it so the man couldn't walk.

"Daddy, Daddy, Toby let me clip the goose wings while he held them down," the boy announced proudly.

"Any of them hiss at ya?," Daryl asked, swinging the boy up into his arms.

"All of them!," the boy declared with delight. Daryl laughed and set the boy down, giving him a playful swat on the behind and sending him back to his momma. Glen's daughter had run up for a hug as well and then taken off to climb up in her poppa Hershel's lap.

"You be gentle with him," Glen warned the girl. Hershel had fallen ill about a year back, they didn't have the medical equiptment to figure out exactly what happened, but Dr. S had said that he thought the man had a small stroke. His mind was still sharp, but he didn't get around so good anymore. Hershel held the small girl in his arms. It was hard to tell if the girl was going to turn out to be beautiful or odd looking, but she was doubtlessly the only red haired asian he had ever seen. Maggie's new baby had an interesting look as well, with Maggie's facial features and Glen's ink black hair.

As quickly as she had climbed up, the girl was down again and running to join the other kids. They were all lined up at the fence that separated the gardens from the animal pastures, yelling and hollering in excitement. Hershel could not see what they were looking at, but he guessed it meant that Merle, Mitch, Rick and Michonne were back from hunting. Iva thought about telling the kids to hush up, they were scaring the goats, but then plopped down in her chair instead, deciding the walk wasn't worth it. Toby ran over to the fence behind the kids and called down to Merle.

"Iva had her baby while you were gone," he yelled. The look of concern on the man's face was completely worth the hell he was going to catch for this, and Toby set off laughing.

"He is a liar!," Katie yelled down to her daddy, "Mommy is still big and fat." This made Toby laugh even more and he darted over to tease Iva a little. Toby saw she was laughing as well. She was the size of a small planet right now, so she figured the comment from her daughter was fair enough.

"That was so mean Toby," Nevaeh scolded him. Despite her semi stern tone, he could see that she had been laughing too. She was such a beautiful woman, Toby thought every day how lucky he was to have her. He knelt down and kissed her cheek then gave her a more lingering kiss while he rubbed her growing belly. This would be the first baby for the two of them and he was glad they had waited so long to have sex. After what happened to her, it had taken her a long time to be ready, but she was worth every minute of that wait. After stealing a few more kisses, he crawled over to Iva to get a rub on her big bundle.

"You sure theres only one in there," he asked the woman as she swatted him away playfully, "Maybe you should go for a horse ride and see if you can shake it loose." Iva thought maybe that wasn't the worst idea she had heard. Right about now she was willing to try anything to get this baby out of her.

"Don't you dare," Hershel told her, "that baby will come when its good and ready." Iva rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair. It was all well and good for him to say that, he wasn't the one who couldn't see his feet. He saw her defeated expession and added gently, "You know god made the last few weeks of a woman's pregnancy more uncomfortable on purpose to help her overcome the fear of giving birth." Nevaeh smiled, she doubted that was in any bible anywhere but Hershel always knew just the right thing to say.

The hunting party was coming through the gate now. They had gotten a large doe and a big pig, which they were carrying between them on long poles. Rick was yelling at the kids and dogs and hens to get back before they got a big animal dropped on them. Maggie called the kids over to them, while Tara, Carol, Tyreese and Sasha come up from where they had been digging out for another greenhouse to help with the heavy animals. With all the help they had the animals hung and dressed in no time and most of them set off to go back to other tasks or wash up. Most of the deer would be canned or dried into jerky, but the pig had been hunted for the Sagra del Maiale (festival of the pig).

This was the fifth year now that they had celebrated this new holiday, starting with the pig that Iva and Merle had brought in the day he had killed the governor. Everyone got in small groups and took a part of the pig to make a special dish. Iva was making apple pork sausages, but she meant to keep and eye on Glen and Maggie so she could learn how he made the tiny dumplings he called Mandu dumplings. He had already showed her how to make the spicy fermented vegetables called kimchi, but she wanted to see how he made the dough for the steamed dumplings. He didn't cook often, but when he did Iva always thought everything he made was interesting and delicious. When she asked, he had told her that his grandmother came from Korea and had been the one that taught him how to cook. She didn't know what Korea was, but she assumed it was a special cooking school.

Michonne also almost never cooked, but she knew one dish her mother had taught her how to make. Her mother had come here from South Africa to be a fashion model in the seventies so she didn't eat or cook much. For Michonne's birthday she had always made what she called Bunny Chow, which was strange since it did not have any rabbit in it, but was a spicy curry served inside a loaf of bread. She also knew how to make Soetkoekies, which were sweet cookies made with pork fat. Since most of the black people in the group had never even met anyone who had been to Africa, the recipes were very interesting to them and they had taken to forming their own little cooking group for this celebration with Michonne as the leader. Tyreese and Sasha sometimes watched them, but they liked to make their own contribution, a smoked pulled pork butt and collard greens slow cooked with the knuckles of the pig. Their mother had been famous for it.

They planned to have the celebration in two days, which would give everyone plenty of time to prepare. Merle got done washing up his hands and headed back out into the yard to check on Iva. If he saw Toby out there, he was considering giving the taller man a few swift rabbit punches for the joke he had played on him earlier. He saw his small daughter walking down towards the horses, hand in hand with Lilly's son. He sometimes watched them and wondered what Phillip Blake would have to say about their children being best of friends and likely more when they got old enough. He thought it might please the man. After all, he had not been all bad, and for as many people as he had killed, there were also a lot living here that would have died long ago if it hadn't been for him, including Merle. He sometimes wondered what he had done to deserve living here, happy with his family, while the other man was dead in the ground. One thing he knew for certain, the best parts of both of them were down by the fence, feeding carrot tops to the horses.

From the moment Katie had been born, you could almost see the goodness shining out of her. She had her momma's love of animals and even as a toddler, the chickens had followed her around like they could sense something in her that they liked. She was the spitting image of her mother, but he noticed she had picked up a lot of his mannerisms and facial expressions. It was entertaing to watch her, especially when she got mad, she looked like a tiny Iva but with his scowl on her face. Hershel had been right about one thing, he never regretted for one minute that she wasn't a boy. Having a daughter was the best thing that ever happened to him, and he thought so often, especially when Daryl's boys were misbehaving, which was about every five seconds. The last time Daryl had gone out hunting, the boys had run away from Beth and climbed up on top of one of the barns then refused to come down. Rick had tried to climb up and get them and they had ripped shingles off the roof and threw them at the man's head. Finally Michonne had to come out and order them down. In Merle's opinion what they both needed was a good solid ass whooping, although it was unlikely that they would be getting that from either of their parents. He had come close to giving to them himself, especially the time they stole his arm piece and stuffed the inside full of sheep shit. They had run and hidden behind Beth, who had apologized and offered to clean it out for him.

Merle walked over to where the girls were sitting, shelling the peas. Just Iva and Nevaeh were left, Maggie and the others had gone to start cutting the deer up into strips that would be marinated and dried into jerky. The smaller peices they would put through the grinder and squeeze out into jerky sticks with a jerky maker that they had. The best parts they would eat fresh or can up in quarts with some of the vegetables for quick meals this winter. Merle took one of the empty chairs next to Iva and reached over to rub her belly. Her feet were not as swollen as they had been by this time with Katie, but she still looked very uncomfortable.

"Not too much longer," he told her. She gave his hand a squeeze and went back to her peas.

"You know," Nevaeh said to them, "I heard sex can make you go into labor." Iva laughed, if that was true she would have had this baby nine months ago. Suddenly she stopped and put her hand to her belly. Whenever she was standing or walking lately she had been having painful contractions, but they always stopped when she was sitting down. This one felt stronger than the rest had been too. It was only one, but she let herself hope a little that maybe she would be holding her baby by the morning.

An hour later, Beth and Lilly had to help her inside to the infirmary. Then Beth ran to boil up some water for the tea blend that Iva had made for herself when the time came. Beth knew it was red raspberry leaf, nettle and chamomile. They all drank it when they had been in labor. By the time she got back it was too late for tea, Carol and Nevaeh were holding up Iva's legs and Lilly was knelt down in front of her, ready to catch the baby. Merle had been thrown out, since he was yelling and cursing and getting in everyone's way. He was watching from the doorway with Toby, who was looking a little pale, but still excited. The head was out, and Iva leaned in, giving one more hard push. Lilly caught the baby gently and wiped off its face. She handed it to Iva and tied off the cord tightly with a clean piece of string, then held the cord so Nevaeh could cut it carefully with a very sharp knife. The afterbirth came out next.

"What the fuck is that?," Toby asked loudly from the hallway, bringing on general laughter from everyone including the new mommy. He had seen plenty enough animals give birth to know what it was but thought it would be funny to yell about it anyway. Beth turned to him.

"Maybe you should go out and get Katie," she suggested. The exciting part was over anyway. He smiled and took off to find the girl, who was outside sitting with Daryl. When they came in, Beth was holding the small baby, wrapped in a blanket, while the other girls were helping Iva clean up and get some clothes on. Beth knelt down so Katie could get a look at the small baby. Merle crouched down as well and put his arm around his daughter.

"How do you like your new brother?," he asked her. She reached out tentatively and softly stroked his head. Katie wasn't sure how she liked him. He was small and cute but he looked kind of red and angry too. Then he opened his tiny eyes and looked up at her. She smiled at her new brother and then turned back to her daddy and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her cheek to his.

"Oh Daddy," she gushed, "he is perfect."

****For me no story is complete without a happy ending, even if it is The Walking Dead. I hope everyone enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it and big thanks to everyone who gave reviews.****


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